The Dream Machine
by Cloud no Miko
Summary: It began simply. Zero is revived after the Eurasia incident. But a machine, memories lost, a mad scientist, and a power hungry maverick happens. Can Zero trust X when he can't remember Zero? Wily is back? Chapter 26 up! Call into Darkness
1. Zero

The Dream Machine

**Note:  This story takes place at the end of X5, in the ending where Zero went Maverick, both get gravely injured in battle, but X manages to return unscratched but with all his memories of Zero gone.  I've also taken the liberty to add an element from the X5 non-Maverick ending where X gains possession of Zero's sword.  My apologies if anything else I mention in the story is inaccurate.  I've only played X, X4 and half of X6.  My references for all the other games are from the scripts of the X games from megaman-x.com.  Some new terms not native to the X series will also be introduced, and I will refer to incidents occurring in my other fan fic "The Future is Coming."  As a time reference of the X games and my other fan fic "The Future is Coming", I'll include this list, going in chronological order:**

X4

"The Future is Coming"

(minus crazy cross over characters like Protoman and Roll)

X5

"The Dream Machine"

Do not worry if you have never played X4 or X5, I'll try my best to make this a stand alone story and include all the character history that I use.  I think the only need to define three things before the story:

Reploid:  A new type of robot with the ability to think for itself.  

Maverick: Used as a noun ("You're a Maverick!"), preposition ("** has gone Maverick!"), and probably more parts of speech than a word ever should.  It is attached to a Reploid that has turned against humans and/or evil.  And Maverick Hunter is a noun set, Maverick does not modify Hunter, so the term "Maverick Hunter" doesn't mean a Hunter which is Maverick, it means a Hunter of Mavericks.

Creators: Dr. Light created X, and by now you should accept the fact that the evil Dr. Wily, Dr. Light's arch-enemy, created Zero to fight and destroy X.  You don't buy that, then you'll be very offended by the fact that Wily is IN this fan fic as Zero's creator.  Sorry.  

If you need a point of clarification please e-mail me :)   To those who have not played the above games: sorry if the first couple of chapters sound very mysterious, but any unanswered questions about the history of X and Zero will indeed be beat to death in the other sections :)

Enjoy!

**The Dream Machine**

By Cloud no Miko

**Prologue:**

Through the plotting of the Maverick Reploid Sigma, the space colony Eurasia collided with Earth.  The shuttle which Maverick Hunter Zero piloted on a collision course with Eurasia failed to deflect the space colony.  High amounts of pollutants were released into the earth's atmosphere when the crash occurred.  Also released to the earth surface are high amounts of the Sigma Virus, which causes Reploids to go Maverick.  In a strange turn of events, this virus reacted with an existing virus on earth to form a virus emitting the same reading as the Zero.  This virus has been dubbed the Zero Virus.  While its effects on Reploids are unknown for now, many are still weary about it.  For these reasons, many humans and Reploids have relocated to underground colonies called "coves."  

The details about final battle between Sigma and the Maverick Hunters are sketchy.  The only survivor from the battle was X, Maverick Hunter and leader of the 17th unit .  He returned unscathed, but could not recall key details of the battle.  He could only say that Sigma had been destroyed… Curiously, he lost all his memories about Zero, his best friend and fellow member of the Maverick Hunters, with whom he has worked with for many years.  Perhaps it is because in the moments leading up to the final battle, Zero himself went Maverick and X could not accept the situation.  Or maybe his memory was accidentally damaged in the battle.  No scientist of this age could tell you for sure, since the creation of X-decades before the creation of the other Reploids-was shrouded in mystery.  

The story continues…

**Chapter One: Zero**

_An electronic buzz traveled through my head as I regained functions.  A green status screen came on, and light beeps accompanied the scrolling text.  Interesting, it tells me I'm functioning at 25 percent.  My self-repair systems are working on repairing the rest.  My legs are non operational, but will be repaired in approximately four hours by the self-repair systems.  _

_Not bad for someone who got blown into pieces._

_…_

_Wait a minute.  I thought I was dead.  The last thing I remember hearing was my maintenance system reporting my fatal shutdown over X saying something.  My damages were too much for my self-repair system to handle.  There was no way I could have survived by myself.  Someone must have put me back together.  _

"X!" _I shouted, or at least thought I shouted as I opened my eyes.  No one came running.  I turned my head around and noted that I was in an unfamiliar lab.  Since I tried to use my vocal systems, my status screen informed me that they were non-operational as well.  This is obvious now since I noticed someone else was in the lab, but did not turn to look at me.  She must have not heard anything._

_From the lab table I was laying on, I could only see her back, but I was sure I haven't met her before.  She was immersed in some work at the computer terminal across the room.  I thought for a second how I would get her attention.  I couldn't talk.  I couldn't walk over to get her attention.  So I knocked my hand against the lab table.  She heard immediately, and turned to look at me.  _

_A look of surprise was on her face, which was quickly replaced by a sigh of relief.  She hopped out of her chair and ran over by the table.  She was human.  She had a short, blond haircut, and green eyes.  She was wearing white lab coat.  She was probably in her mid-twenties, but the smile she was wearing on her face at this moment made her look like a ten year old staring at an ice-cream truck.  _

"Zero, right?"  _She asked.  "I'm Dr. Sky.  I saw your name on your programming.  How are you doing?"  __She stared at me, expecting a reply.  I looked blankly back at her, not sure what to do since I couldn't speak.  I tried for a long shot.  I knocked on my table once again.  "Oh! Morse code.   Of course!  You can't talk.  I'm sorry, I haven't fixed that part yet.  You were in horrible shape when I found you.  'How long have I been out?'"  __She was reading out my questions as I tapped them.  "I don't know, but I found you the week of that horrible crash.  I should say I found bits of you.  If it weren't for that bright flash of blue light I wouldn't have found you at all.  'Did I find anyone else?'  No, I only found you.  I couldn't find bits of any other Reploid… not bits I could fix."__  She didn't find X.  Was he alive?  "Are you okay?  You suddenly got even more depressed looking."  __I tapped her a reply.  _

_I told Dr. Sky about how I ended up in pieces.  About Sigma, __Eurasia__, X, me turning Maverick… there must have been something wrong with my systems still, because there was no need to tell her I was a Maverick.  She might even decide to deactivate me after she found out._

_But she did not.   It didn't seem to matter to her I was a Maverick.  "If you tried to kill me," __she said, "I'd be sad."  __It was a very stupid answer.  But I had no intentions on killing her anyway.  "Are you still a Maverick?"  __She asked.  I shook my head slightly and told her I didn't think so.  It's hard to explain.  I remember everything about my battle with X, and how much rage I felt when I hit him with my attacks.  I also remember the moments before my death, why I wanted to kill Sigma instead of finish X.  How does anyone change their mind so fast?_

_ She told me she hadn't heard about the Eurasia incident, since she was living in a secluded lab out in what used to be the mountains (because of the pollution from the crash, her lab was buried in sand). Of course she knew something had crashed on the planet, but she had no access to the news wire.  While exploring the newly devastated area, she found many Reploid parts.  That was when she found my head.  She saw a bright blue light emanating from that area and came to find me.  She immediately searched for my other parts.  What she could not find, she rebuilt from the blue prints included in my programming.  _

_I asked her if she knew what the blue light was, and she in turn said that she was hoping I could shed some light on the matter.  Blue light?  Was it Dr. Light's hologram?  _

_I asked her how she knew how to rebuild me, since your average human was not that familiar with Reploid technology.  She told me that she was a student of all sciences, and had studied about Reploids some time ago.  _

"My main occupation is a plant biologist,"_ she told me, beaming like a child again, "but it's hard not to read up on everything else."_

_So I was alive again.  Feels strange, cheating death so many times.  I really thought it was going to end this time.  It would be so much easier if it had.  Then I wouldn't have to worry about the Mavericks, Sigma, or the war anymore._

_I wouldn't have to worry about X either.  X, the one I want to save, and the one I need to kill._

_I wonder if he's dead or alive._

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	2. Sky

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter Two: Sky**

_I was glad he woke up.  I had no doubt he would, since I fixed everything properly.  His self-repair system was functioning again, so that should speed my own repairs on Zero much more.  _

_Even before he woke up I could tell he was a sad Reploid.  Something about his face told me he did not smile much.  My suspicions were confirmed when he said his first words three days after he woke up.  His voice was heavy with burden, but I think even in his condition he was trying very hard to hide it.  He asked about his friend X again.  I told him that it would be necessary to send scouters into town to find out about X and the Maverick Hunters.  I sent out scouter bots to look for the nearest town, but they came back and reported nothing but desert, even at the exact coordinates Zero supplied me._

"The towns nearby must have been buried under sand as well, like my lab."  _I explained to Zero.  "They're looking for some sort of way inside.  The humans must have moved underground regardless, since the pollution makes it impossible to live above ground for a long time."  _

_Survivors did exist, even though the conditions are terrible from the crash.  I've seen several of them in air-tight suits, scouting the area where I found Zero.  That was good enough for me, I guess.  I felt no need to investigate any further until Zero started to ask about the survivors._

_I had hoped he could tell me about that blue light I saw.  He went very quiet when I mentioned it.  He knew something about the blue light.  Oh well, he could tell me in his own time.  _

_The faces of Zero consist of varying degrees of concern.  Sheesh, was he always like this?  I try my best to cheer him up with my overwhelmingly optimistic personality, but he only offers me weak smiles.  If I did not talk to him, he would probably spend the entire day staring at the wall, deep in his own thoughts.  He claims this helps his self-repair system when he does not move.  I've seen the blueprints, and know he's lying, but I don't call him on it.  If he needed time, then so be it.  From what he told me about what happened to him in the last 24 hours before he was blown up, he probably needs centuries to get over what's going on.  _

_So he is a Maverick, or was a Maverick.  From what he told me, he seemed to have a separate personality.  I couldn't believe that the Reploid who was so concerned about X could, at the same time, be trying to kill him.  He didn't seem dangerous now, and I didn't find any trace of the Sigma Virus in him.  _

_After three weeks, repairs for Zero were finally completed.  He busied himself by testing out his weapon capabilities.  They're not anywhere near full capacity, but my resources were limited, and I don't think he needs to defend the world anytime soon.  At around the same time, one of my scouter bots came back with some disturbing news._

_The good news was that many of the humans and Reploids have survived on earth, and are living in underground colonies called "coves."  This was good to hear.  However, communication between neighboring coves was not well established, as their move to this new home was rather hasty.  It was difficult enough for the people of one cove to contact another, so it was going to be even more difficult for me to reach any of them.  _

_Poor communication aside, it seems that a virus was named after my new friend, Zero.  When I checked the readings myself I confirmed that the article was telling the truth.  This might explain why he went Maverick but had no traces of the Sigma virus.  This would also explain how he was "cured" of being a Maverick.  The virus's readings being identical as his own, there was a possibility that his virus and his own systems are equally powerful, and were fighting each other for control.  Or, stranger still, Zero could be controlling the virus, whether he understands how or not.  In any case, many of the survivors believe the Zero Virus to cause Reploids to go Maverick, and that Zero is behind the spread of the disease.  Since Zero's death during the battle with Sigma could not be confirmed, some people think Zero is still alive and was plotting to destroy the Maverick Hunters.  _

_From the older newswire articles, we also found out that Zero's friend, the Maverick Hunter called X, is also alive.  At the moment we read this news,, I saw a strange expression on Zero's face.  He didn't look happy or relieved, as I expected him to look.  He looked undecided.  Was he still planning X's death?_

_After Zero finished reading the newswire, he immediately headed for a door in the room.  _

"Where are you going, Zero?"

"I have to head back to Maverick Hunter's Headquarters." _Zero said.  _

"Maverick Hunter's Headquarters location isn't even confirmed!  Even if it were in the closest cove, that's still a thousand miles away.  You have no transport.   It would take me a week to upgrade the buggy to make that kind of a trip."  _Zero must be nuts, because his expression did not change.  He still looked like he was about to go out that door.  "Not to mention you're not exactly outdoor weather safe either.  I have to upgrade your armor so it can withstand the sand.  I didn't exactly have your original titanium alloy on hand when I fixed you up, so your armor wouldn't survive the sand storm.  You'd probably have more luck surviving a fall off a ten-story building as Humpty Dumpty."  _

_I finally changed his mind and he agreed to stay a couple more weeks so I can upgrade the buggy and his armor.  I had to take apart several of my existing inventions around the lab and be a little creative to make a metal alloy close to the durability to his original armor.  Zero looked about ready to jump out into the sandstorm, armor or no armor, as soon as I was done with the buggy.  I almost had to tie him up and remind him again about how his armor still was not done.  _

_It would take two more weeks to finish his armor.  I wonder what he will find in town when he gets there._

_Town… I wonder if she__ is still around._

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	3. The Machine

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter Three: The Machine**

An explosion startled Zero from his recharge.  He got up from the recharge pod, which Dr. Sky had built for him with help from his blue prints and directions from himself, and paused to listen for any other disturbances.  He could hear Dr. Sky frantically yelling about something.  He leapt out of the pod and ran down the corridor, readying his weapon as he reached the main lab's doors.  When he opened them, he saw everything was already under control, sort of.

"Nya!"  Dr. Sky said as she used the fire extinguisher.  "It's on fire again!"  Assistant Bots also helped to put out the small fire, which originated from some poor wiring.  Zero stood to watch the hilarious scene.  Dr. Sky noticed Zero at the doorway, putting his Z-Saber away.  She noted that the assistant bots had everything under control, so she walked over to Zero.

"Ah ha ha.  Did I wake you up?"  She rubbed her soiled face with her sleeve.  Suddenly she looked meaningfully at Zero.  "So you _can smile like that.  I'm glad."  Zero was puzzled by her comment, shrugged it off, and looked around the room._

"Why are you up at this hour anyway?"  Zero asked her as she cleaned up bits of the blown up device.  

"I'm just working on my hobby."  Dr. Sky replied.  She examined a piece of burnt chip and tossed it into the trash bin.  "While your armor's metal is still being made I had some free time to work on this a bit… It's-"  She pouted her lips a bit in thought.  "-it was supposed to be a toaster."  She noticed Zero giving her a curious look, as if prompting her to explain further.  "A toaster is a twentieth century invention.  It was used to heat sliced bread.  Now we don't use toasters anymore.   Anyway, I was trying to attach it to a new power source and it ended up toasting my lab."  Dr. Sky laughed again.  

Zero started to look around the lab.  Many inventions were foreign looking.  The one thing that did catch his eye was one that looked like a standard recharge pod.  He walked over and inspected the device, curious at the fact that Dr. Sky built him a new one instead of letting him use this one.

"That's one of my past inventions.  It looks exactly like a normal recharge pod, but it actually hooks up to your head and allows your dreams to be monitored.  I've also added features to allow the user more controls over their dreams!"  Dr. Sky walked over to join Zero.  "See these plugs here are different from a standard recharge unit."  She laid one hand over the glass covering.  "I invented this a couple of years ago, but had to stop working on it since I had no one to test it on since I live all the way out here by myself.  I had to live out here to keep all of my research projects secret, but I guess it's a bit inconvenient at times too!  I ran as many computer simulations as I could, but it's just not the same."  Zero seemed very interested in the machine--he was staring at it for quite some time--, so she offered to let him try it.

"It might be fun.  I'm sure it's safe.  I'm just not sure how much control you'll actually have over your dreams and what not."  Dr. Sky moved over to a computer panel and typed in some key sequence to call up a program.  "I can monitor your dreams on this monitor."

Zero wasn't sure why he was trying out the machine.  He was quite curious about how the machine would work out, which was why he showed initial interest.  Research into Reploids's dreams and psyche did exist, but most were very poorly done, so he wanted to see what kind of research Dr. Sky managed to do.  However, it was Dr. Sky's enthusiasm for finally testing out the machine on someone that pushed him the rest of the way.  Zero closed his eyes and allowed the recharge cycle to begin.  

The screen Dr. Sky was monitoring was static filled.  Several minutes passed with nothing but static on the screen.  She was about to call Zero when the static began to form into a blurry image.  It was a first person view of what Zero is seeing, Dr. Sky presumed.  The screen showed an angled view of an old man wearing a lab coat working on a computer panel.  The view became blurry again, and faded out completely to darkness.  

Things came quickly back into focus on the screen.  The screen was filtered with red light.  Zero punched out a piece of glass in front of him and slumped out of a pod he was in.  The ground rushed up into view.  Zero must have fallen out of the pod.  Zero let out a cold and painful scream that made Dr. Sky step backwards from the monitor screen.  A red intense light filled the screen as Zero let out an even louder scream.  Flashes from different scenes followed.  First it was Zero's point of view as he destroyed other Reploids, laughing along the way.  Then it was Zero fighting Sigma, almost beating him.  An awful electronic screech stared, and Zero seemed to be suffering from hearing it.  He reeled backwards from Sigma, who took this opportunity to punch Zero in the head, sending everything back to darkness.  

The screen turned bright again, and now the view was not filtered in red, as it had been before.  Zero was fighting alongside a blue Reploid.  Dr. Sky recognized him from the newswire articles to be the Maverick Hunter X.  

A new image appeared on the screen.  It was X hanging from Zero's grasp, dangling from a high-rise window.  X was looking down towards the ground, and then turned to look up at Zero.  Zero says something horrifying.

"Bye bye, X."  Zero's voice could be heard, and then he lets go of X, who shrinks from view as he falls towards the ground.  Laughter accompanies the explosion as X hits the pavement below.

The screen goes black.

"Why didn't you let X go, Zero?"  A dark voice that Dr. Sky hasn't heard before says while the screen remained black.  "A perfect opportunity.  You would still have the trust of the Maverick Hunters, and carry on the plan to destroy the world, and X would not be here to stop you."

"Wi-Wily?"  Zero responds.  "Are you Dr. Wily?"

"Of course it's me!" The first voice snaps.  "Your creator!  Why have you defiled my legacy all these years by working with X?  So many chances to kill him, and yet he's still alive!"

"Beh, I don't care about your legacy, and you're just a dream."

"I am no mere dream, Zero.  I was afraid that one way or another you would go soft, so I included certain protocols in your programming."  Dr. Wily laughed.  "Unfortunately the program was damaged somewhere along the line, which is probably why you ran off and joined the Maverick Hunters and worked alongside X."

Dr. Sky looked over at Zero inside the pod.  He had a pained expression on his face.  

"It doesn't matter.  None of it does."  Zero's voice yelled back, a little more erratic than self assured this time.  "I live my life.  Leave me alone!"

Dr. Wily seemed to be ignoring Zero's protests, and continued.  "Now that some of these protocols have been reactivated, we can continue my plan."  At the corner of her eye, Dr. Sky saw that the monitor now carried a picture.  Dr. Sky presumed the hideous face was that of Dr. Wily.  "I will be speaking to you more often, Zero.  Until then, good night." 

Zero snapped into a sitting position in the pod, gasping for air as he did.  Within seconds, Zero regained his composure.  By the time Dr. Sky ran over to Zero, he seemed to be back to normal.  

"I'm fine."  Zero said, as if he anticipated Dr. Sky's question.  "I've always had these dreams… about him.  They've just never been his bad before...  He was never this… alive."  

"I need to look at the data again to be sure, but I think it's mostly my fault."  Dr. Sky sighed.  "When I was rebuilding you, I came across this one program.  I managed to fix the program, but it seemed to be empty.  It had a space in your files, but contained nothing itself.  It seemed pointless to have a program that did nothing, so I tried to delete it from your programming, but the 'empty' program seemed to resist and all sorts of barriers blocked it from deletion.

"Now I see.  That program must be part of the protocols he was talking about.  It is what we call a dormant program; seemingly obsolete, until its reactivation.   My machine must have triggered the program's re-activation and enabled you to have this conversation with him.  I'm really sorry, Zero."

Zero said nothing.

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	4. Empty Reunion

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 4: Empty Reunion**

Zero's new armor was finally completed and installed.  That same day, Zero began preparations for his trip to the new coves.  The latest batch of search bots brought back coordinates of several of the nearby coves.  Along with this data, the search bots also brought back news that cases of Reploids gone Maverick has gone up significantly.  While no clinical link to the Zero Virus could be drawn, many scientists speculate that the link exists.

Since Dr. Sky needed the buggy herself, the plan is that Dr. Sky would drive Zero into town and drop him off at one of the city's aboveground entrances.   

"But wouldn't everyone panic when they see you?"  Dr. Sky asked Zero as she drove.  "They think the Zero Virus is going to be the end of the world.  Wouldn't they be even more petrified when they see you in person?"

"This is why I'm going to keep a low profile until I find X and the Maverick Hunters."  Zero replied.  "No sense in riling people up, but I do need to find the new HQ for myself."

The drive continued for several hours in silence.  Zero had been even quieter since the dream machine incident.  Neither of them brought up the topic.  Dr. Sky looked the readings more closely afterwards and confirmed her suspicions about the dormant program.  Zero seemed to already believe what she said the night it happened, so she did not feel she needed to substantiate the theory to him.  

As if he read her thoughts, Zero suddenly brought up the topic near the end of the buggy ride. 

"Will you let me use the machine again?"

"What?  You actually want to use the machine?"  Dr. Sky was surprised.  It wasn't exactly a happy father/son reunion last time.  "But why would you want to talk to Wily again?"

Zero was silent for a moment, and then answered with a voice just a hair above a whisper: "I've never been able to talk to him before.  All this time it's only been him commanding me.  I've never been able to argue back."  Zero stared straight ahead.  "I think I should try."

"You don't want to do as he says, right?"

Zero said nothing, but Dr. Sky understood what Zero meant.  It would have to be something for Zero to decide when he was good and ready.  Even if Dr. Sky decided not to let him use the machine, Zero might go Maverick again someday.  At least this way, he would be doing something about it.

"Alright."  Dr. Sky reluctantly agreed.  "But I want minimal usage.  That means one day a week, with the time between each use for me to thoroughly analyze the data to make sure nothing is wrong."  Dr. Sky gave Zero a look that prevented him from arguing on the terms.  Zero nodded and sunk deeper into his chair.  

"Hee hee!"  Dr. Sky chucked.  "Of course that also ensures that you have to visit me weekly!"  Zero looked back over and recognized the cat-impression Dr. Sky does whenever she was thinking happily of an experiment.  She was a strange one.

They finally reached one of the entrances to the underground coves.  Dr. Sky put on the mask to her air-suit before Zero opened the door to the buggy to get out.

"How come you're not dropping into town?"  Zero asked.

"The same reason I decided to get the heck out of town in the first place."  Dr. Sky winked and waved goodbye to Zero.  "Don't forget to bring me a souvenir!"  He closed the door and the buggy sped away.  

****************

After several hours of searching through the underground waterways, Zero finally found one of the coves.  He brought a large brown cloak with him to wear so he would not be recognized as Zero.   

The particular cove that Zero was walking through looked like a bad alleyway at nightfall, except for the metal ceiling 30 feet above the ground.  The streets were lit by mismatched lampposts, probably salvaged ones from the destroyed cities after the Eurasia incident.  Small shops were located at both sides of the sidewalk.  The residential units seemed to be further underground, since there were signs indicating that the subway-like entrances lead to living quarters.  

A fair amount of Reploids and humans were walking around the streets.  Zero noticed that the humans' clothing were more plain than usual.  As for hovercrafts, they were out in significantly reduced numbers, which is probably due to the fact that the streets were much more narrow in coves than the above ground cities.  

After talking with several Reploids and humans, Zero found out the good news that the Maverick Hunters HQ had a sub-station in this cove, Cove-08.  None of the people Zero talked to knew for sure if X was stationed here, but they guessed that an important Maverick Hunter such as X would certainly be stationed at the main HQ, in Cove-01.

Zero followed the directions to the sub-station.  He stood outside the building and studied it for a moment.  Like the coves, the sub-station has also lowered its standards on outward appearance for efficiency sake.  Gone were the stone statues and the bright banners.  The only impressive thing about the building was its size; three stories high.  The ceiling of the cove was raised to 50 feet to accommodate this taller building. 

While Zero was busy studying the exterior of the substation, someone from behind him called out to him.

"Zero?!" Zero turned to see Alia, the navigator for the 17th unit staring at him with a bewildered expression on her face.  Zero wondered how Alia could have recognized him with his hood on, and then quickly realized the hood had slipped off while he was looking up at the building. 

Alia seemed frozen for a moment, as if she was afraid that any movements from her might make Zero take off and disappear again.  When she collected herself again, she called out to Zero again.

"Zero, is it really you?"

"Alia," Zero walked towards Alia,  "It's good to see you."

Alia took a quick, small breath, and immediately sprinted the rest of the way towards Zero.  When she got within arms reach of Zero, she wrapped her arms around Zero in a hug.  Zero wanted to say something, but he let Alia speak first. 

"Zero! You're alive!"  Alia stammered.  "We all thought you were dead!  We looked for you!  Signas set out squad after squad to comb the area."  She let go of Zero and studied his face.  "Where have you been all this time?!"

"I was hiding myself until my repairs could be done."  Zero half lied.  Since he was not sure of Dr. Sky's reasons to live in seclusion, he did not want to reveal her existence or location to anyone unless it was absolutely necessary.  Not to mention the fact that he wanted to keep the dream machine experiment a secret.  "I had to look for you as well."

"Zero…"  Alia looked deeper into Zero's eyes.  "You're not Maverick anymore, right?"

"No."  Zero quickly answered.  "No, I'm not Maverick anymore."  Now he was slightly confused.  Didn't X tell Alia what happened at the end of the battle with Sigma?  Yes, Zero had turned Maverick just before the final battle with Sigma, but in the end, Zero had helped X by destroying Sigma.  Why didn't X tell Alia?  Something was very wrong.

"Alia!"  Zero grabbed her shoulders.  "X!  Is he alright?"  Alia lowered her eyes and her brows lowered.  "Tell me!"  Zero demanded.

"X is alive."  Alia said slowly.

"I know that."  Zero said impatiently, his voice straining.  "What's wrong?!  Why aren't you looking at me?"  

"Zero…" Alia looked back up at Zero.  "X, he—" Before Alia could finish, a new voice interrupted the conversation.

"So you're the one called Zero."  A familiar voice said.  Zero turned around to see X standing several feet away from them.  X's eyes looked completely different than Zero remembered.  

"…the one called Zero?"  Zero repeated.  Zero turned back to Alia, who shifted her gaze between Zero and X.  This must be the thing Alia was about to tell him.  Something was gravely wrong with X.  Zero already had it figured out when Alia confirmed his suspicions.

"He doesn't remember you at all."  Alia said softly.

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	5. Toppled Balance

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 5:  Toppled Balance**

"It's good to have you back, Zero."  Signas said.  Some of the Maverick Hunters gathered at the command room of the Maverick Hunters HQ.  Minutes after they met in front of Cove-08's substation, Alia had arranged transportation to Cove-01 for Zero, X, and herself.  Leaders of several other Maverick Hunter units, upon hearing of Zero's return, had also rushed to join in the debriefing at the Maverick Hunters HQ.  Dr. Cain was also present.

"Thank you, sir."  Zero replied as he looked around the large meeting table.  Many of the Hunters gathered were strangers to him.  Alia told him that many of the Hunters perished during the Eurasia incident, and several were lost recently due to increased violence from Mavericks.  It seems more Reploids were going Maverick than usual.  The Maverick Hunters needed all the help they could get.

"We're still unsure of exactly how the Sigma matter was resolved before you disappeared."  It was one of the new unit leaders, Doyle, who spoke.  "We haven't formally been introduced yet.  I'm Doyle, leader of the13th unit."  Doyle shifted forward in his seat, revealing what Zero recognized as a double headed laser baton strapped to his back.  "We are investigating the events leading to Sigma's destruction, and perhaps you can answer some questions."  At that comment, several of the Reploids seated at the table glanced over to X.

"Well, after I turned Maverick I fought X in battle.  X let his guard down and I beat him.  We were both severely damaged, and Sigma showed up.  The next bits are a bit sketchy."  Zero looked evenly at his reflection in the highly polished tabletop.  He looked up again to continue his account.  "I think X beat Sigma, but when X's back was turned, Sigma snuck up from behind X and shot us both.  I used the last bit of my strength to destroy Sigma."  He looked towards X, who looked expressionless.  "That's all I can remember."  

"Yes, thank you."  Doyle said, then turned to X.  "X, can you guess why you can't remember any of this?"

"I couldn't tell you, Doyle."  X now looked slightly concerned.  "None of it except for Sigma sounds familiar.  I wasn't damaged when you found me; in fact, I was in pristine condition.  It's highly unlikely I survived a battle with Sigma without as much as a scratch."  X shook his head.

"We think maybe part of his memory was deleted when we reactivated him at the labs."  Douglas, the Maverick Hunter's top engineer, joined in the discussion.  "There is a lot about X we still don't understand, since he wasn't constructed from the line of Reploids of Dr. Cain's design."  Douglas nodded towards Dr. Cain.  "He seemed to have lost all his memory about Zero, not just his memory from the battle with Sigma."

"Perhaps we can table this matter for now."  Signas got up from his seat at the head of the table.  "Zero's account of what happened is the only account we have, so there is nothing we need to do about this investigation right at this moment.  I'd rather we talk about the Mavericks, who have been a force to reckon with these last several months.  Since you're all here, this is a good opportunity to debrief on that subject as well."  Signas glanced over at Alia, who got out of her chair and moved to the monitor at the front of the command center.

"Five of the 20 coves in the western region of this continent have been attacked this week."  Alia announced.  "Two were heavily damaged and evacuations were necessary as a precaution."  A photograph of the decimated cove was displayed on the screen.  "We have caught three of the individuals responsible for these attacks.  After downloading their memory files and analyzing their mainframe, we've discovered that these Mavericks have been infected-" a slight inflection could be heard in Alia's voice "-with the Zero Virus.  What's even more disturbing is that each attack on the cities was masterminded by a single Maverick infected with the Zero Virus.  Douglas."

Douglas pressed some keys on a digi-pad in front of him and immediately the monitor switched to a data readout of a single Reploid.  

"What you see on the screen now are data we collected on one of the Mavericks responsible for the attacks.  We had data from the employer of this Reploid on the Reploid's capabilities and specifications.  That's listed on the screen in green."  Douglas typed in something else in his digipad.  "What you see now appearing in red beside the green numbers, are the calculated capabilities and specifications we came up with after we reviewed battle data with the Maverick collected by our Hunters."

"That's probably the biggest concern, above all."  Sitting next to Douglas was the Reploid huntress Aya, who was another member of the 13th unit.  "Output levels over 12 percent of prespecified limit should cause the main systems to shut down on the Reploid, and if the Reploid did not shut down, then it should have been burned out completely within 10 minutes.  Yet, this Reploid demonstrated powers 30 percent above normal output for several hours as he attacked Cove-15."

"The 13th unit has been also investigating this matter."  Doyle's stare went straight for Zero.  "The effects of the Zero Virus are difficult to pin down at this moment, since we can only say there is a correlation between increased output ceilings and being infected by the Zero Virus.  No laboratory data has been able to substantiate this."

"I already have a team of my best scientists looking into to the Zero Virus, Commander Doyle."  Dr. Cain finally spoke.  "We can't go around infecting Reploids with the Zero Virus to find out how it ticks, so we can only work strictly with the field data.  If there's anything to find from them, you can be sure I'll find it."

"Thank you Dr. Cain."  Signas took control of the meeting once more as Alia returned to her seat.  "Dr. Cain and his team of scientists will work on the Zero Virus data while the rest of the units work on defensive measures.  We can't make a move against anything or attempt to contain the virus until Dr. Cain's team come up with a plan, so the only thing the units can do right now is to stop Mavericks before anyone else is harmed, and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Zero,"  Signas ordered, "you will work with X in the 17th unit.  With your disappearance we divided the 0 unit's members between the other units.  Now is not exactly the right time to do any rearranging of the command structure.  I hope you understand that it will be awhile until we get the 0 Unit back up again."  Zero nodded, and noticed X studying him from across the table.  

Signas continued to assign posts to the unit leaders, finally sending Unit 17 to Cove-02.  The units are to leave for their new assignments the next morning.  As the Hunters were filing out of the command room at the end of the debriefing, Amp, a member of Unit 17 rushed up to Zero.  Amp had been waiting outside the command room for Zero.

"Zero!"  Amp said in a gleeful voice.  "You're back!  I knew you'd be back!"

"Amp,"  Zero greeted the younger Reploid.  "How've you been holding up?"

"Doing okay."  Amp glanced over Zero's shoulder and watched X leave with Douglas in the opposite direction.  "Um… does X still not remember anything about you?"  Zero nodded.  "I was afraid of that.  When I heard the news you were back, I thought maybe seeing you again would jog X's memory."

"It's not important if he remembers me."  Zero said.  "We need to worry about the attacks right now."

"That's just so like you to say, Zero."  Amp let out a sigh.  "I'm glad you haven't changed."  Zero's eyes flickered a bit, curious as to what Amp meant by that comment.  The younger Reploid noticed this and continued.  "X has changed.  Since the last battle with Sigma, I mean.  It's not something huge.  His eyes have grown… colder.  You know how he was, right?  He's very empathetic towards everything, including the enemy.  Adamant about that standard all the time, makes no exceptions.  You two balanced each other out in that respect."  An expression of panic crossed Amp's face, worried that he had offended Zero.  Zero shook his head and asked Amp to keep going.  "With you gone, he lost some of that… like the balance got tipped."

The two Reploids caught up some more before Zero said goodbye to Amp and headed towards his new assigned quarters.  

"Balance got tipped, eh."  Zero muttered to himself.  "X…"

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	6. Immunity

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 6: Immunity**

"Amp, Glyde, Fade, you three lead your sub units in the blocks spanning from A1 to G10, My subunit, we'll be taking the remaining blocks.  Zero, you'll be joining my subunit."  The 17th Unit's members dispatched from the Cove-02 Hunter's substation as X finished giving orders for the day.  It was Zero's first day back as a Maverick Hunter, and the first opportunity Zero had to speak with X.  Since he returned to Hunter's HQ, Zero has been busy downloading data relevant to the current case, getting a check up from Dr. Cain, and talking with members of his 0 Unit about his whereabouts.  He was a bit surprised X did stop by to talk to him, but supposed that X was busy with his own work.  

After X gave his subunit his orders, he signaled for Zero to follow him.  It seemed that X also wanted to take this opportunity to talk.  Zero pushed off the wall he was leaning on, and caught up with X, who smiled at Zero.

"Everyone talked about you a lot after the Eurasia incident."  X started.  "I think I have a day by day record of your career from their accounts."  Unsure of where X was leading the conversation, Zero said nothing.  "We were friends, right?"

"Yeah, we were friends."  Zero nodded.  "Saved each other's rear ends a couple of times, too."  Both of them laughed.

"I don't know why I forgot about you."  X leveled his gaze ahead.  "I'm sorry if this is hard for you, me treating you like a complete stranger."  Zero thought he should say something here, but X continued.  "Let's do this correctly."  X stepped in front of Zero and turned to look at the crimson Reploid.  "I'm X."  He extended his right hand.  "It's nice to meet you."  X looked very sincere, so Zero took the handshake.

"Nice to meet you, X, I'm Zero."  Disappointment is not a strong enough word for what Zero felt as he took the handshake.  Zero successfully hid that from X, since the blue Reploid gave him his signature boyish grin.  

_I'll just have to get used to this.  Zero told himself as he answered X's questions about himself.  __It's not so bad; X seemed like his normal, effusive self.  But Amp was right, something was different about X.  __Hanging out with X was different this time.  _

Before Zero had more time to spend on the thought, Alia's emergency call rang through his intercom.  

"All Maverick Hunters in the Cove-02 area respond immediately to the living quarters in sector D5!  Reports are coming in of Reploids attacking there.  Do not enter the living quarters.  Your orders are to help evacuate the humans and Reploids who have already made it out of the living quarters."  

Zero and X immediately began dashing towards sector D5's living quarters.  X tried to get Alia on the radio to explain the orders not to enter, and succeeded as they reached one of the entrances to the sub-terrain living quarters.  

"Alia, why can't we enter the living quarters?"  X demanded.  He looked around.  Several of the Hunters were leading the families towards a trauma center set up at the end of the street.  "It doesn't look like the full occupancy has escaped.  We've got to take a team down there to help."

"The witnesses are saying the central computer in the housing facility is on fire and disabling the Reploids who get near any of the communication panels hooked up to it."  Alia responded urgently.  "You can't go inside!  The communication panels are located in every room down there.  Until we figure out what it's doing to the Reploids, we cannot risk sending a team inside."

X gritted his teeth, and moved in to help more people who made it of the living quarters to a set up trauma center.  Zero did the same.  Burn marks and smoke soot covered the people now making their way out of the housing facility.  X noted there were no Reploids coming out.  

"They've all gone Maverick!"  One man screamed as he crawled towards the trauma station.  X rushed to the man's side and helped him up.  "All of them!"  

"The Reploids?"  X asked the man, who had trails of blood running down his face from a cut on his forehead.  "Who's attacking the living quarters?"

"One minute they were fine, then the electricity shorted out and all of the Reploids went down."  The man gulped a breath of air.  "Then they all attacked!"

"X," Alia called from the radio.  "We've found a large amount of the Zero Virus in the central computer!  We think it's infecting the other Reploids already present.  Tell your team to stay away from there!  We're contacting the police and letting them take care of this.  There's nothing we can do."

"Zero Virus?"  Zero overheard the radio transmission.  "Can't hurt me."  Without another word, Zero drew his sword and rushed into the living quarters.  

"Zero!"  X yelled.  The man whom X was helping suddenly grabbed both of X's shoulders, his eyes wide with terror.  "The kids!  The daycare!  My god…"  His voice trailed off and he collapsed to the ground.  X looked longingly at the entrance of the living quarters.  "Fade!"  X called to one of the nearby Hunters.  "Help this man to the trauma center."  X passed the man into Fade's arms, and rushed after Zero.

"X, wait!"  Fade reached out her free arm to try to stop X, but he was already down the entrance steps.  

****************

"X, what in the heck are you doing?!"  Alia yelled through the radio.  "I understand why Zero is running off into the living quarters since he is immune to the virus, but _you_ certainly aren't!  Get back upstairs before you get hurt!"

"I just need you to tell me where the daycare is, and warn me if I'm about to get near a communication panel that's been corrupted."  X said calmly.

"X!"  It was Signas on the radio now.  "Get out of there!"

"I have to go inside.  Put Alia back on so she can spot for me."  X's decision was already made, so Alia came back on the radio and began giving X direction.

"Turn left here," Alia instructed as X dashed ran down the smoky corridor.  "Watch out for you right hand side.  There is a communications panel 10 meters ahead, on the right wall."  As he ran, X reached for the Z-saber strapped to his back and drew it.  The saber responded immediately, coming to life in a flash of green light.  X swung it as he approached the communications panel, sliced the interface in half, and continued running at full speed as the broken pieces of the comm. panel fell to the ground.

"The daycare is 15 meters ahead.  The door is on your left."  Alia typed in something on her keyboard.  "The doors are locked!  You'll have to break them open."  X reached the doors and used the Z-Saber again to slice an opening.  When the doors fell away, he saw a group of frightened human children huddling behind a large table, and a Reploid slowly approaching the group.  Some of the children saw X standing at the doorway and started to scream loudly, probably thinking he was also going to attack.  

"X, in front of you is the Reploid who works at this daycare.  The comm. panel at the front of the room must have infected her."

"Looks that way, Alia."  X pushed away the remaining parts of the door and moved inside the classroom.  He scanned the group of children and found the oldest one.  "You," X pointed to the girl who looked about ten years old.  "Lead the rest of the children out of here now.  I've cleared the way to the exit for you.  Go, now!"  The children quickly got up and started to run for the door.  The Maverick Reploid made a move towards the escaping children, but X blocked her path.  "Stop!  Snap out of it!"

"I'm having the time of my life!"  The Reploid told X in a grainy voice.  The Maverick was not wearing any heavy battle armor, had no weapons, but the look in her eyes made her very menacing.  They were glowing blood red with such intensity, that they seemed to leave a trail of red light as she moved.  

"You've been infected by the Zero Virus, we can take you back to the lab to get you fixed."  X tiled his head a little to see the last of the children scrambling out the doorway.  "You're not yourself."

The Maverick launched herself at X, who was surprised by her speed.  X rolled out of the way in time, but dropped the Z-saber during the process.  The beam of green light shut off and the handle rolled to the other side of the room.  X did not want to resort to his X-buster, as he would surely kill the unarmored Reploid with any kind of a blast; he would have to try to disable her with hand to hand combat.  

X pushed himself off the ground and readied for another advance by the Maverick.  Taking her cue, she raised her right fist and dashed towards X, who readied to block the punch and subdue the Maverick.  In the split second before her fist reached X's arm, she swung her left arm in a round house punch.  X saw the blur from the corner of his eye and ducked the punch, but the moment he looked up, he saw the Maverick's face moving at high speeds towards his own.  The Maverick smashed her head against X's helmet, which sent him stumbling backwards onto the teacher's desk.  

"X!"  X heard Alia's voice among the ringing in his head.  "There's a comm. panel on the-" An electric pulse rumbled violently through X's body.  X gritted his teeth and, with great effort, turned to see that purple threads of electricity were escaping from the panel's keypad.  "The Zero Vi…" Alia's voice was cutting off on the radio, which was overheating from the electricity.  

His visual display was suffering as well, as his vision started to blink on and off.  Then the visuals stopped working completely.

"X!  X!"  He heard Alia scream before his radio also shut off.  

*****************************

Zero finished slicing of the Mavericks when he received Alia's call.

"Zero, go to the daycare section now!  X is in there, and I just lost contact with him."

"X is down here?!"  Zero started to run for the daycare.  "What's happening there right now?"

"One of the teacher Reploids was infected with the Zero Virus."  Alia explained.  "X was fighting her."

"Arugh."  Zero growled.  "Knowing X he was probably trying to talk some sense into woman instead."

Zero arrived at the daycare in time to see the female Maverick standing over X's body on the desk.  Without another word, Zero and the Maverick simultaneously charged towards each other.  Zero drew out his sword, raised it high in the air, and swung his warm to slice the Maverick into two.  With surprising strength, the Maverick held up Zero's arm.  The two were locked in a struggle until Zero pushed the entire weight of his body against the Maverick, knocking her down to the ground.  Zero quickly brought his sword down, and, this time, succeeded in cutting the Maverick into two.  

Zero turned his attention to X, who was on top of the table with his blank eyes staring at the ceiling.  Zero was frozen where he stood.  

"Zero!"  Alia's voice snapped.  "Go wake X up.  He's alive!"  Zero did as Alia told.  

"X."  Zero said hesitantly.  "X."  He said a little louder this time.  Zero put his hand on X's shoulder to shake him, but the color flushed back into X's green eyes as soon as Zero touched his shoulder.  X's eyes rolled towards Zero in a lazy manner.  

"Zero."  X said slowly, taking a deep breath before his next words.  "The teacher… is she…?"

"She's dead."  Zero replied.  X gave Zero a pained expression.  X never approved of killing a Reploid if it could be helped.  In this case, X thought he could have done something. 

"Zero, you…"  X looked like he was about to cry, but suddenly his he looked confused.  X's eyes wandered away from Zero.  The expression on his face changed once more.  "Let's go."  Now Zero could see fully what Amp meant when he mentioned X's eyes going colder.  X no longer felt sad about the Maverick teacher.  X sat up on the desk and hopped to his feet.  He looked down at the body of the Maverick teacher for a second, and then walked over the remains towards the door.  Zero had never seen X act this disconnected before.

"Is X alright?"  Alia demanded of Zero.  "From my readings, he's been infected with the Zero virus.  His radio doesn't seem to be working.  I can't contact him."

"X."  X stopped and turned to Zero's call.  "Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine Zero."  Just as suddenly as the stranger had appeared, the normal X was speaking to him again.  "Why do you ask?"

"Alia said you've been infected with the Zero Virus."

"What?"  X's eyes grew wide.  "But I feel fine."

"Zero," Alia said over the radio.  "Aside from the presence of the Zero Virus in his systems, X's readings are normal… and, the amount of the Zero Virus is exponentially decreasing as we speak."  An uncomfortable silence hung in the room as Zero waited for Alia's report to continue.  "It's gone.  All traces of the Zero Virus in X's systems have been wiped out."

Zero and X shared shocked expressions.  They image Alia must be looking about the same.  

"X is immune to the Zero Virus…"  Zero uttered the words, but they did not sound any more realistic than before.

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	7. Defiance

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 7: Defiance**

"So the virus doesn't affect him at all."  Dr. Sky said thoughtfully as she punched up something on the computer.  Zero nodded.

Zero was back at Dr. Sky's lab again.  It had been a week since Zero returned to the Maverick Hunters.  Even though the number of vehicles the Hunters had was significantly reduced from before the Eurasia Incident, they still had quite a selection.  Zero managed to get his hands on a motorbike that could withstand the sand storms and returned to Sky's lab on it.  He left without telling anyone where he was going.  It wasn't unusual for Zero, who often left on missions by himself anyway, so he didn't think anyone would give it another thought as long as he turned up when he was needed.

Dr. Sky sat down on one of the chairs and bit the index finger on her right hand, deep in thought.  She remained like that for several seconds, then clapped her hands together.  "I've got it.  It's all theory, but I think I know what happened with X."  Zero extended one hand, gesturing for Sky to go on.  

"Well, you said he forgot all about his past with you before the Eurasia incident, right?  The Zero Virus… that _could be considered part of his past with you…"  Dr. Sky got out of the chair and paced quickly back and forth in front of Zero.  "So if one of his programs was actively blocking or erasing his memories of you before Eurasia, it's possible that it has including the Zero Virus as one of its targets; effectively giving him immunity to the Zero Virus."_

"That's similar to one of Dr. Cain's theories."  Zero observed.  

"Hm.."  Sky stopped pacing.  "I should meet this Dr. Cain sometime."  Dr. Sky turned back to working on the computer.  "It must be some program, if it managed to defeat the Zero Virus with that kind of speed.  It's too bad we haven't pinned it down yet.  It could be used to get rid of the Zero Virus problem once and for all.  I wonder who came up such a powerful program.  Was there anything else wrong with X?" 

"Aside from the strange way he spoke right after he got up, no."  Zero told Dr. Sky about the way X acted.  About how he suddenly got confused, then the cold look in his eyes.  Dr. Sky didn't shed more light upon the subject than either Douglas or Dr. Cain.  There was little to no scientific data to work with the description "X looked cold."  Dr. Sky, though, had something to say about X's behavior.

"It's more likely that reaction had something to do with X's missing memory than the Zero Virus."  Dr. Sky stated.  "You said one of the other Maverick Hunters described something like this to you before, so it's something that occurred before he was infected with the Zero Virus.  I'd bet the farm that the thing affecting X's memory is the very same that's making him behave differently."

"Bet the farm?"  Zero repeated, studying Dr. Sky with an amused expression on his face.  "First the 20th century toaster, now the 20th century expression?  Are you also a historian?"

"A ha ha!"  Dr. Sky chuckled.  "I'm just weird.  Anyways."  Dr. Sky moved to the recharge pod set up in the center of the lab.  "Off to bed with you."  Subtle details about the expression on Sky's face told Zero that she was worried about him.  She still had a smile on her face, but the slightly down turned corners made it look like a stage smile.  "Maverick Hunters have bedtimes, too."  She joked.  "I've made some adjustments since the last time you were on it."

"What kind of adjustments?"  Zero offhanded asked as he climbed into the recharge pod.  Dr. Sky leaned over the pod and looked very serious. 

"Did it hurt last time?"  Dr. Sky asked.  "It looked that way."  

"Don't be silly."  Zero snapped.  It seemed that Dr. Sky expected this reaction, because she didn't flinch at all.  "I'll be fine."  Zero insisted.  "Let's just get started."  Dr. Sky nodded softly, and patted the recharge pod once before heading off to the computer terminal at the back wall of the lab.

"It's ready."  Dr. Sky prompted.  Zero closed his eyes, and the large monitor changed from a string of codes to static.  A smaller screen to the lower right corner of the large monitor displayed data the data that was previously on the large screen.  Unlike the first time, it only took seconds for an image to start appearing on the screen.  Zero was on this hands and knees in what looked like an old warehouse.  The view was third person this time.  Behind Zero was a kind of stasis pod Dr. Sky had never seen before. Shards of glass were on the ground around Zero, who started to stand up.  

"What was that?"  Someone said in the background.  Metallic footsteps approached, and a door off screen slid open.  "Who's there?!"  The same person demanded.  A reploid, probably a guard, appeared on the screen, looking at Zero nervously.  "Who are you?"  He demanded.  Zero glared at the guard, causing him to take several steps backwards in fear.  "Stop!"  Zero drew a sword with his left hand and it came to life with a menacing crack.  The guard got out his own weapon and fired several shots of laser at Zero, who easily evaded them.

As Zero dodged the last shot, he disappeared from the guard's view.  The guard barely had time to gasp before Zero's sword slashed towards the guard from behind.  The blade came within inches of the guard as he rolled forward.  The guard darted behind some crates, and called for reinforcements on his radio.

"Intruder alert!"  The guard's voice trembled as he spoke into the radio.  "Building R4.  Send reinforcements now!"  Zero attacked again, leaping off the crate that the guard was pressed against, narrowly missing the guard who broke into a run.  Zero seemed to be giving the guard time to dodge his attacks, and was quite entertained by watching the guard scramble from behind one crate to another.  He had numerous openings to finish the guard off, but he did not take them.  The chase finally ended when the reinforcements arrived and fired their weapons at Zero.  Zero moved with sharp precision, dashing from the shots, or blocking them with this saber.  The first guard took this time to make a run for the exit.  

After sizing up the guards advancing on him, Zero dashed towards the group, and counterattacked with a flurry of swings from his beam saber.  He landed on one knee at the entrance of the room, which was suddenly void of all sounds.  An annoyed look crossed Zero's face as he dropped his beam saber; it was shorting out from being hit by the gun fire.  The guards behind Zero each fell to the ground with a crash. 

The guard at the doorway watched in horror as his teammates hit the ground.  His eyes slowly shifted towards Zero, who wore a crooked smile.  

The doorway slid closed.  Zero stood up, flanked by the smoke of the burning pile of metal behind him.  

The screen went black.  Dr. Sky thought Zero woke up, but turning around she saw otherwise.  

"You like chasing people."  Dr. Wily's voice made Sky whip back around towards the monitor.  Wily was on the screen, standing across from Zero.  "You could have killed that guard ten times over, but you chose to hunt him instead."  Wily sighed deeply.  "How is it now, when you have to follow _orders on who you are allowed to hunt, and who you must __protect?"_

"I'm something different than what you know, Wily."  Zero said flatly.

"It's easy to try to throw me off with meaningless declarations, Zero.  I know you better than anyone else in the world, including yourself.  Why do you think you rose the ranks of the Maverick Hunters so fast?  It wasn't only because you were good.  Oh, no.  X is good too, but have you wondered why he is still a Class B hunter while you took command of the hunters?"  Wily paused, not really expecting an answer, but for dramatic effect.  "You _hunger for the kill!  With less people in command above you, you could work more __freely.  Moving about as you wished, not having to take prisoners when you didn't feel like it.  Of course, you are still restricted by the rules and regulations of the Hunters, but I'm here to make you see the follies of that.  The signs are all there, Zero."_

"The more I talk to you the more I'm convinced you have no control over me."  Zero narrowed his eyes, which were neon blue.  "You're more full of it than Sigma."

"Defiance!  Yes, that was programmed, too."  Dr. Wily rubbed his chin in thought.  "Talking to you might not be the way, but I've got something in the works already."  Wily's eyes moved.  For a brief moment, he seemed to be looking right _at Dr. Sky.  Sky blinked, and noticed Wily was looking at Zero once more.  A figment of her imagination or not, this had Dr. Sky very concerned.  How did Wily know where to look?  She wasn't surprised that Wily knew about the monitoring.  If Wily's program had access to Zero's data banks, then it was just a matter of checking them.  But being able to interact with the outside during the monitoring?  This meant Wily's program had a very good understanding of Sky's machine.  _

Or perhaps it was just a coincidence.

The screen went black again, and Zero started to get up from out of the pod.  Dr. Sky stood in place, with the image of Wily looking at her burning in her mind.

_There are no coincidences.  Sky thought to herself.  __Wily is going to be trouble._

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	8. Coincidences

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 8: Coincidences**

"Zero," Dr. Sky approached Zero stepped out of the recharge pod, "This, Dr. Cain… you can trust him, right?"  Zero nodded slowly, curious as to why Dr. Sky suddenly asked about the old scientist.  "If it's okay, with you, I'd like to consult with him about this project."  Zero looked slightly worried.

"Is that necessary?"

"I think I'm getting in a little over my head."  Dr. Sky said cryptically, not wanting to alarm Zero about Wily.  If she told him right now, he would probably insist on hopping back in and confronting Wily about the subject.  Before Dr. Sky finds out about what glance was all about, he didn't want Zero going back.  "It would help a lot if I could consult another scientist.  So if we can trust Dr. Cain, then…"

"I trust you."  Zero insisted.  "There's no need to tell Dr. Cain."

"But Zero…"  Just then, Zero's communications device, now equipped with a range booster, started to beep.  Zero heard Alia's voice broadcast through his ear.  

"Maverick HQ to Zero.  Come in Zero."  Alia didn't sound urgent as she does when there was an attack happening.  

"Zero here."

"Zero, we I've found something interesting about the Zero Virus.  You should come and take a look at them.  Can you report back to HQ within the hour?"

"Yes, I'll be there shortly."  The motorbike Zero rode to Dr. Sky's lab runs much faster than Dr. Sky's buggy, so heading back to HQ wouldn't take twenty minutes, much less an hour.  "Zero out."  Zero started for the door.  "Dr. Sky, I have to head back to HQ.  Alia's found something new about the Zero Virus."

"Wait!"  Dr. Sky caught up to Zero before he went out the door.  "I'm coming too!"  Zero stopped in his tracks when Dr. Sky stepped in front of him.  "If it's about the Zero Virus I should be there as well."

Zero thought for a moment but come up with one reasonable excuse to why she shouldn't.

"But what about the reason you left in the first place?"

Dr. Sky looked away for a several seconds, but then looked back up at Zero with determined eyes.  "That's not important anymore.  It's not just you… the world is riding on this.  If I can help, I think I should go.  And don't worry, I promise I won't say anything to Dr. Cain or anyone else about the machine."

"I really don't think that's such a good idea."  Zero blinked, and in the time it took to finish opening his eyes, about twenty of Dr. Sky's assistant bots emerged out of nowhere and seemed to stare accusingly at Zero, emulating their creator, who was giving him an equally annoyed look.  

"How exactly do you plan to stop me if I decide to go by myself?"

_Is it just my imagination, Zero thought nervously, __or did the room get darker and are their eyes glowing?....  _

"Uh, well…"

_I can't believe this!  I'm being manipulated by a scientist who does cat impressions and her army of elfin assistants…_

"I suppose it's alright."  Zero finally said, which sent the assistant bots and Dr. Sky jumping for joy around the lab.  Zero stood still as the cheering went on, trying to find the bit of sanity in this scene.  He failed.

"How will you ride the motorbike?  The suit you have wouldn't survive."  Zero was fine with his armor to ride the bike without a special suit through the sand storm, but from what Zero saw of Dr. Sky's suit, it probably wouldn't survive the high speeds through the sand.  Dr. Sky leaned slightly backwards, acting as if she was offended by Zero's comment.

"Do you think this girl owns only one environment suit? Tut, tut."  Dr. Sky waved her index finger at Zero.  "Please!  I've got one for every occasion!  Don't worry about that! Let me go get the suit and I'll meet you outside!"

-----------

The two arrived at one of the official entrances to Cove-01.  Since the entrance was official, it meant it was better maintained than the sewer that Zero had to trudge through during his first visit.  

After riding the elevator down, and Zero explaining about Dr. Sky to the guard, they were on their way to the lab.  

X, Alia, and Dr. Cain where already inside the lab when they arrived.  Zero took a moment and introduced everyone.  Dr. Cain seemed to recognize the name.

"Sky..." Dr. Cain said thoughtfully.  "Did you know Abigail and Frank Sky?"

"Yes, they were my parents.  Did you know them?"

"I've only met them once, at a conference where they presented a talk on nano-technology."  Dr. Cain rubbed his chin.  "Interesting stuff they presented, but I don't think they ever completed their work before that unfortunate incident."  Both Dr. Cain and Dr. Sky looked downwards, while Zero, X and Alia glanced amongst themselves, curious as to what they were talking about.  "They never did find the killer.  They caught her on surveillance, but she seemed to have disappeared completely after that.  It's been seven years, so now the trail's gone cold."

"So they never caught her."  Dr. Sky said in a tone more bitter than anything Zero has heard her say.  

"Do you mind if I ask where you have been since your parents died?"  Dr. Cain asked softly.  "The entire scientific community was very worried about your whereabouts.  You basically dropped of the face of the earth!  All the police would reveal was that you were safe."

"Oh me, I was fine!"  Dr. Sky madly waved her hand in the air.  "I just had to get out for awhile.  Anyway, don't worry about that anymore!  I'm here to help with the Zero Virus research!"

"You can start by looking at these new readings we have over there."  Alia, who was sitting in front of the monitors, motioned at the screen.  Dr. Sky moved to stand by Alia and studied the screen.  "I don't know if you're familiar with the software we're using, but you can read the standard frequencies here, the outputs here, and you can toggle the other displays by using this button here."

"Thanks."  Dr. Sky began to press the toggle switch.  "Looks normal…wait!"  She stopped at one of the screens and looked very concerned.  "This reading; it's unusual, isn't it?"

"Yes, that's what we thought."  Alia agreed.  "This setting for output waves is just plain strange…. How anyone could have gotten it to transmit on this setting combination is beyond me."

"It's a fingerprint."  Dr. Sky said slowly.  "All of my equipment generate this output as a fingerprint, so I can identify when and where my equipment has been used."  Dr. Cain, X, and Zero all huddled over Alia's shoulder to see the readings.  "These three number chains here, here and here."  Dr. Sky pointed.  "It takes a very specific code to follow these chains for the output signal to even work!  It's virtually impossible to replicate unless you know a special method of generating them."

"Could anyone else know how to generate these codes?"  Dr. Cain asked.

"No.  My mother was the one who came up with the method, and our parents used it exclusively on their equipment.  They kept it secret for a reason."

"So how could the virus be putting out these readings?"  Dr. Cain turned to look at Dr. Sky.  "Is it also programmed to leave traces on other things that the equipment has affected?"

"Yes, that was the other function, so we know what things the equipment has affected.  There's no way it could be my parents' equipment, the entire lab was destroyed the day my parents died… so it must be…."  Dr. Sky trailed off.  "My equipment….?"  

"Dr. Sky?"  X leaned closed to the Doctor.  "What is it?"

"My equipment…  That bastard!"  Dr. Sky's face grew red with anger, and she stood straight and turned to leave the lab.  "I have to get back!  Zero, can you give me a ride?"  A call came in on Alia's headset, which disrupted the current conversation.  After a series of nods, Alia addressed the group.

"There's been another attack, at Cove-03, at one of the mines.  It's another Zero Virus outbreak."  Alia brought a set of new data on the screen, showing the location and status of the area under attack.  "How does it do that?!  We just swept that place for any sign of the Virus this morning and it was clean!"

"Maybe someone is planting the virus."  X said.   

"Everyone," Signas popped up on the adjacent screen.  "Two units are there already, and they report that it's been difficult to use their projectile weapons in the narrow passages.  X, Zero, bring your swords, you'll need them!"  

Both Zero and X nodded, and Signas signed out.  

"X, you go back to the lab with Dr. Sky."  Zero ordered.  "I don't exactly know what's wrong there, but from your tone" Zero nodded towards Dr. Sky "It's urgent.  I'm better at sword fights than X, so I'll handle the Cove-03 mine."  X nodded in agreement, and the three of them ran out of the lab.  Dr. Cain sat down at another terminal, while Alia spotted for some of the hunters already in action at the mine.  Moments later, Aya, of the 13th unit, walked through the doors.

"Alia, Dr. Cain.  Commander Doyle asked me to bring these data files back to you, and to thank you for sharing them with him."  Aya set down the files down on a desk to the left of the doorway, and approached the monitor screens.  "How are they doing?" 

"Not good."  Alia typed something else on the keyboard, and winced.  "One of the hunters just walked into a trap!  Sever!  Sever!  Respond!  Good, you're still in one piece.  Can you move?  Okay, I'll send someone to get you.  Stay safe.  Fade, please go to 03-48-29, Sever is immobilized.  Get him out.  Attention all hunters: beware of booby traps.  Whoever the maverick is, he's set up some very dangerous traps.  Report coordinates of any traps you do find to me."

"I know you're busy, but Commander Doyle also asked to see the new readings."

"I'll fetch them for you."  Dr. Cain brought up the data on the screen in front of him, and downloaded them to a small digital pad, and handed it to Aya.

"Thank you, Dr. Cain.  We'll let you know about any new findings we get from this, of course."  Aya skimmed the data, and stopped at a screen.  "This, output…  It's strange."

"Yes, that's what Dr. Sky said before she practically bolted out of the room."  Dr. Cain laughed.  "Apparently it has something to do with her equipment."

"Dr. Sky?"  Aya's voice lingered on the name.  

"Do you know her?"  Alia turned her attention briefly to Aya.  

"No…  I'm just surprised she's still alive…. After that whole business of her parent's lab blowing up many years ago."  Aya recovered from her shock. "What was she doing here?"

"Zero brought her to help with the investigation."  Dr. Cain replied.  Aya made a noise acknowledging the answer and nodded.  

"I should let you both get back to work."  Aya smiled and slipped out of the doorway.  When the doors closed, she looked at the data on the pad again, a noticeably darker expression on her face this time.  "Zero's just a chick magnet, isn't he?"  She laughed, switched off the pad.  "No matter, this is getting more interesting already."  She started to stroll down the hallway, humming a soft and cheerful tune.

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	9. Memories

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 9: Memories**

"So what is the problem at your lab?  We were in such a rush I didn't get to ask you until now."  X was driving a motorbike, with Dr. Sky sitting behind him.  They were speaking through the intercom link between X and her environment suit helmet.

"If it's the worse case scenario, you'd find out eventually, so I might as well tell you now."  Dr. Sky apologized softly to Zero, and began to tell X about the machine and how Zero has been using it to communicate with Dr. Wily.  X was very quite during the account.

"Why didn't he ask us for help?"  X asked no one in particular.  Even though Zero was a stranger to X, he understood the lone wolf attitude Zero often displayed during missions.  "Is he okay?"

"He seems fine for now.  I have no idea what Wily is doing, but his hand is in it somewhere.  Which is why I'm going back to take the machine apart piece by piece to find out.  That leech!  URGH!"  Dr. Sky waved one of her fist in the air, then took several deep breaths.  "Other than that, Zero's been depressed."

"Depressed?"  

"About you."  Dr. Sky said matter-of-factly.  "You did completely forget about him."

"Oh.  I hadn't realized it affected him that much."

"He's also quite worried about you.  He tells me you've been acting differently."

"Differently?"

"Well, he told me about the time at the day care, how you suddenly zoned out and didn't care about anyone at all."

"I don't know what happened either.  I think I was confused."

"Want to hear my theory?"

"Please."

"People's personalities are based on their past experiences.  The more significant an event is, the more we rely on them for our judgment and reactions.  This is all unsubstantiated, but maybe it's that way with Reploids, too.  Losing all your memory of Zero made you confused, probably because you were trying to recall something from your past with Zero as reference on what you should do or say at that point.  It's not just your memory that's missing; a whole slice of your personality has gone along with it."

"Oh."

"What's with the one word answers?  Anyway, it's not only for Zero's sake you should get to the bottom of what's wrong with your memory, but for your own sake as well."

Flashes of what he remembered from the Eurasia incident appeared before him.  The most recurring memory was of something bright, warm…

"A blue light."  X said.  "I definitely remember a blue light."

"Could it be the same light I saw…."  Before she could finish her thought, they had arrived at the lab.  They decided to continue the conversation after they take care of the more immediate threat.

Dr. Sky quickly took off the environment suit and lead X into the lab.  She powered up the terminal and began typing on the keyboard.  After a couple of minutes at the computer terminal, she sighed heavily.

"It's infected alright.  Wily hid the traces very well.  He seems to have been using something else in the lab to project some signal from this machine during the times Zero was using it."  Sky clenched her jaws.  "I'm going to go get some tools, you should call Dr. Cain.  If we're going to beat Wily, I'm going to need his help."  Dr. Sky speed walked out of the lab.  X was about to make the call to HQ when a voice interrupted.

"I would hold off on the call for now, X."

"What?"  X looked around the lab, but no one else was there.  

"I said I would hold off on the call for now, X."  It was a male voice.  X concluded it was being broadcast from something in the lab.  "You would do well to take my advice."

"Where are you, and what do you want?"

"Step inside the recharge capsule."

"Wily?"  X said, with a little bit more hatred than he cared to admit.  "You're about to be eradicated."

"I wouldn't be so rude if I were you."  The largest screen flickered to life in the lab.  It was an overhead shot, probably from a security camera, of the storage room.  Dr. Sky was rummaging through some boxes.  The sliding door slid shut on one side of the screen.  Alarmed, Dr. Sky ran over and tried to open it, but it did not budge.  

"X!  Can you hear me?!"  Sky's voice came over the speakers.  "Hello?  Anybody?!"  She began pounding on the doors and calling out the names of the assistant bots, but the door remained shut.  Her rising panic was clear even through the poor resolution of the video.

X grunted and started for the door, before Wily stopped him again.

"I wouldn't do that either!"  Looking back at the screen, X could see something was exploding in the store room.  Dr. Sky yelled some choice words as she looked around for something to put out the sparks.  She found extinguisher, and picked it up and aimed it at the electrical fire.  "Next time," Wily warned X gleefully, "It will be something larger that explodes.  Now get in the capsule!"

X thought over his options for a moment.  He had no idea how deep Wily's program was embedded in the hardware in the lab.  Simply blowing up the monitor and computer that was in the lab won't necessarily stop Wily from harming Sky.  

"That's a good boy…"  Wily cooed as X stepped into the capsule.  "Now, let's go down memory lane…"

------------------

"Stupid door!  Evariste!"  Dr. Sky yelled out to her assistant bots.  "Garrett?  Emma?"  She had managed to put out the electrical fire, and nothing else in the room seems to be of immediate danger, so she shouldn't have been so worried.  By now, she could hear some of the other assistant bots on the other side of the door, pounding on it to open it.  Unfortunately, the assistant bots were each quite small in size, so she wasn't sure how well they would fare against two inch thick steel.  She studied the door again; the sliding mechanism was on the other side.  An idea hit Dr. Sky like lighting.

"Garrett, is that you?"  She heard some affirmative beeping from the other side.  "Great, you go find two others, and go to my room to get the blue tool box.  Go get Emma, too, she's good with wiring."  By giving the assistant bots orders from the other side, she managed to lead them through overriding the sliding mechanism.  It took several wrong turns and over half an hour, but finally she was free. 

"Thanks!"  She quickly smiled at the assistants, who seemed to be beeping proudly at their success.  "Now, have you seen X?"  The assistants suddenly stopped beeping and ran down the hallway.  Dr. Sky followed.  _Why hadn't X come to get her?  He should have noticed by now that she was missing.  Unless something happened to him too…_

The assistant bots lead her back to the lab, where she found X resting inside the modified recharge capsule.  Her heart sank.  It was highly improbable that X would decide by himself to get inside.  She glanced around to see no one else was around, then sprinted towards X.  

"X!"  Dr. Sky shook X furiously.  "Wake up!  What happened?"  X did not respond.  Dr. Sky went over to the data panel and brought up the session history.  The machine had been activated.  _It's got to be that Dr. Wily!  Dr. Sky thought angrily as she skimmed the command lines.  __He knew all my pass codes, which meant he was monitoring the systems before I even activated the machine!  _

"Ugh."  X was starting to wake up, so Dr. Sky abandoned the terminal and rushed by X's side.  "Dr. Sky?"

"What happened here?!"  With great effort—since X was very heavy—Dr. Sky helped X get out of the capsule.  X was very disoriented, so Dr. Sky set him down to sit on the floor, kneeling down herself so she would be at eyelevel with him.  "Why were you using the machine?"  It was then that X snapped back into focus.

"I remember."  X declared.  "About Zero."

"From the machine?"  Dr. Sky looked at X, then back at the machine.  

"I remember!"  X said happily, and wrapped both arms around Dr. Sky in an embrace.  "It's great!  I remember!  I remember!"  X kept repeating that sentence for probably half a minute.  After getting over the shock, Dr. Sky didn't feel like it was her place to ruin the moment, so she returned the hug.  Finally X let go of Dr. Sky, and rubbed away something from his eyes.

"I'm glad you finally remember about Zero, but something strange just happened here.  Why were you in the capsule?  Did you already call Maverick Hunter HQ?"  X got up from the ground and tilted his head in thought.  A second later, he let out an anguished cry and clutched his head with both hands.  

"X…"  Dr. Sky started to reach out towards X, but thought the better of it and started to innocently back away towards the door.  Since Dr. Wily's program activated the dream cycle, there was no telling what he did to X, or what X was about to do now.  X curled into a ball on the floor and then let out a series of gasps and screams.  As X's condition continued to deteriorate, Dr. Sky didn't see the need for appearances anymore, so she turned around broke into a full scaled sprint towards the exit.  

She only managed to take three steps before she heard the sound of metallic footsteps coming after her.  One step after that, she felt X's arm wrap around her waist, her feet lifted off the ground, and she started to fly in the opposite direction.  

There was a sick thud when she hit the wall on the opposite side of the room.  Her body hit the wall with such force that she literally bounced off and fell face first in the ground.  X approached Dr. Sky's body while several assistant bots huddled in the corner.  X noted the blood on the wall, and looked down at Dr. Sky, who still hadn't moved.  He placed a finger on her neck and waited for ten seconds.  

"She's dead."  He told someone, and started to move away from the body.  "Should I get rid of the little ones too?"  X turned and started to approach the assistant bots.  "No?"  He turned for the door, very casually.  "What is your next order?  Yes."  When X finally left the lab, the assistant bots gathered around Dr. Sky's body, which was now in a large pool of blood, and started to whimper.  They tried to wake her up, despite their knowledge that she was already dead.  

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	10. Rebirth

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 10:  Rebirth**

After taking care of the Mavericks at the mines with several other teams of hunters, Zero left the others and headed for Dr. Sky's lab.  Alia was busy organizing the details of the clean up, but managed to tell Zero that X was still out and since he forgot to take a signal boosting device with him, hadn't made contact with HQ.  

Zero thought about the conversation at the lab earlier in the day.  Dr. Sky reacted almost explosively about the output signals.  To Zero, her reaction—combined with her suggestion that Dr. Cain should help with the dream machine sessions—was enough evidence that something was probably wrong with the machine.  

The only suspect is Dr. Wily.  No one else was involved with the sessions in any direct way.  Of course, it wasn't really Dr. Wily, but a program he left in Zero's systems.  How crafty was the mad scientist if merely one of his programs can wreak havoc on the world like this?  

Before Zero answered all of his own questions, he had arrived at the lab entrance.  There were no vehicles in the front, which surprised Zero, since Dr. Sky's garage couldn't possibly fit another car or motorcycle.  Did he miss X on the way here?  There was no way he could find out by contacting X, since radio communications between individuals also went through the HQ satellites and X wasn't carrying the signal booster.  Zero set up the kickstand, and left his bike for the entrance.  

Neither X nor Dr. Sky was inside the main lab.  Instead, Zero found one of Dr. Sky's assistant bots shuffling around at the back of the room.  It seemed to be cleaning something with a towel.

"Evariste?"  Zero approached the bot, which jumped at his voice.  After noticing who it was, the small robot seemed to calm down a bit.  "What are you doing?..."  Zero noticed a familiar, raw smell in the air.  He hastened his steps towards Evariste, coming to an abrupt stop when he realized what the bot was cleaning up.  "What happened here?!"  Zero demanded without taking his eyes off the pool of blood.  Evariste got very uneasy again, approached the monitors and keyed in a command on the keyboard.  A shot of the lab from above, from a security camera, appeared on the large screen above Evariste.

A chill slowly engulfed Zero as he watched the video.  Even before the video finished, Zero guessed what happened.  Dr. Sky started to back away from X.  He watched the video until the end, his legs barely keeping in standing at that point.  It was hard to breathe when he mind was going in a million different directions.  X killed Dr. Sky.  She wasn't wearing armor, and there was at least a liter of blood on the ground.  X even checked her pulse.  The truth was evident.  But _why?  _

"Where is she?"  Zero asked Evariste.  The bot dropped his town and started heading towards the hallway, Zero followed silently.  They were heading towards her bedroom, and Zero noticed a lot of assistant bots heading in and out of the room, carrying… food?

Zero ran past Evariste and pushed past the other assistants into the room.  He looked into the room, and saw Dr. Sky seated at a table, chowing down happily on a chicken thigh.

A loud crash pulled Dr. Sky's attention away from her meal.  She stood up from her seat and saw Zero sprawled on the floor.  Suddenly he sprang up and started yelling a thousand words a minute.

"Zero, zero…"  Dr. Sky said with a mouthful of chicken.  She paused for a moment, finished chewing and swallowed.  "Zero, coherent sentence."

"What's going on here?!"  Zero demanded.  "I thought you were dead!  Evariste showed me that security video of what X…  and how did you?"  Zero finally noticed a large bandage wrapped around Dr. Sky's head.  He still could not understand how she survived.

"Evariste!"  Dr. Sky scolded.  "How could you show Zero that video before telling him I'm okay?!  What a mean thing to do!  You got him all worried!"  When she finished, she started to fall to her left, but managed to catch herself with her hand before falling all the way.  She slowly sat back down.  "Oops.. yelled a little too loudly."  She motioned to a chair across from the table.  "Sit down Zero, I should explain."  Zero, now more confused than anything else, did as she asked. 

"I'm sorry you saw the video first, because…I saw it myself, and it was pretty bad.  So what do you want to hear first, what happened to X, or what happened to me?"  Zero indicated his choice by pointing his finger at Dr. Sky.  "Nanites saved me."  Zero indicated he was expecting a deeper explanation with the skeptical look in his eyes.  Dr. Sky continued.  "My parents were breeding a colony of nano-robots before they died.  The person who killed them was after the colony.  After I saw her murder my parents, I decided I had to escape with the nanites.  The environment they were being kept in, unfortunately, was a 10 by 5 feet glass tank.  I couldn't very well carry that thing out and hope to escape from the murder at the same time, but I couldn't just leave them there for her to steal… so I put in an order to them that they were being transported, and stuck my hand inside the tank.  That's how I have nanites in my body."

"Wait," Zero interrupted.  "I know nano technology is good, but I've never heard that it's become that advanced."

"That's the thing; my parents were working on a far more advanced colony.  I don't understand it fully myself, but the colony's capabilities are far beyond any other nanites.  This is why she was willing to kill them for it.

"I decided to keep them in my body since that was the safest place to keep them.  That way, I would always know they were safe.  The Reploid that killed my parents know I snuck them out of the lab.  She found me once, and 'killed' me when I wouldn't tell her where they were.  She left me for dead, but the nanites were able to revive me.  That was when I realized my parents experiment was indeed a success.

"So that's why I'm still sitting here.  I need to eat and rest a lot since the nanites need recharging and I need material to rebuild my body.  As for X… I'm afraid Dr. Wily had done something to him."

"The machine."  Zero concluded.

"Yes."  She nodded sadly.  "Somehow he got in the machine while I was locked in the supply cabinet.  When I found him, he was okay for a moment.  He was very happy because he remembered about you, like a little boy."  Dr. Sky beamed briefly.  "He even gave me a bear hug! …"  The corners of her mouth turned, and her voice darkened.  "Then he was in pain.  I ran, and he attacked me."

"Wily."  Zero's fists trembled and he narrowed his eyes.  "He's controlling X?"  

"That's the only thing I can conclude.  I asked Emma to look at the data files, but it seems that all traces of Wily's program, which was previously infecting everything in the lab, had been extracted.  He did quite a job on my own files.  I'm still trying to recover records of X's session on the machine."  Dr. Sky took a deep breath and massaged her right temple with her hand.  "I'm getting tired again."  She got up and started to limp towards her bed.  She had a cast on her right leg, which, to Zero, was previously hidden from view behind the table.  "I'll just take a little nap."

Seeing Dr. Sky struggle just to get across the room boiled Zero's blood again.  It had been a long time since he got this mad about anything.  

_Wily.  Zero mouthed the name.  _

Dr. Sky finally managed to get up on the bed and pull the covers up. 

"Zero, you'll find X, right?"  Dr. Sky asked, already starting to sound drowsy.  "I can fix him, so please bring him back… in… one… piece…  It's… not his… fault…"

"I know."  Zero got up and walked to the bedside.

"It's… my… fault…"  Dr. Sky was unable to keep her eyes open.  As she closed her eyes, a tear trickled down her cheek.  "It's… my… fault…"

_ I don't blame you.  Zero thought as he watched Sky fall asleep.  He saw that there was a large stack of data pads on the nightstand.  Zero picked some of them up and looked them over.  She was already working on fixing X._

He had felt the iron grip of Dr. Wily's virus before.  It controls its victim by exploiting their emotional weaknesses.  X was always very emotional, but very strong in that department…. Wily must have done something horrible to X to break him emotionally.  

Zero shuddered.

It would be very difficult to bring X back.  The virus destroys your former self and you are reborn as… a demon.  Zero himself had to die, dragging his demon into hell with him… that was how he broke free of the virus.  What would he have to do to save X?  Was it even possible now?  Zero looked down gravely at Dr. Sky.

_I'm sorry.  Zero thought silently.  __With things like this, I don't think I can bring him back in one piece.  _

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	11. Decision

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 11: Decision**

"I appreciate Zero sending you over to help me, but really I'm fine.  I might look like I over did the mummy motif, but I'm getting better."  Dr. Sky busily typed at the terminal of her lab's main computers as the assistant bots buzzed around with printouts and electronic pads.  Thick bandages were still wrapped around her head, but she no longer needed crutches to get around.  "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Aya."  The hunter smiled warmly.  "From the 13th unit."  A darker smile appeared on Aya's face as soon as the scientist turned around.  _This is going to be fun.  She thought to herself.  "Zero was very insistent that someone came to look after you.  What are you working on anyway?"_

"Just restoring some files that were deleted."  One of the assistant bots handed Dr. Sky some files.  "Someone tried to delete them, but surly no one suspected how paranoid I am with backup files."  The screen to her right flickered to life, and a wide smile appeared on her face.  "Got it!"

X was on the screen, standing upright but was unconscious.  Dr. Sky drew a deep breath as the movie continued.  A beam of blue light accompanied by shimmers appeared before X, who started to open his eyes.  Bathed in the blue light was a heavyset man with a bushy white beard.

"Dr. Light?"  X asked timidly.  "What are you doing here?  Where am I?"  

"X, I'm sorry we only see each other in times of difficulty."  Dr. Light placed a hand on X's shoulder.  "I came to tell you about your memory."  X remained silent, so Dr. Light continued.  "I was the one blocking your memory about Zero."

"But… why?"  Instead of looking surprised or angry, X seemed more curious.  "Why would you do that?"  Light lifted his hand off X's shoulder and looked downwards, searching for the right words.  Finally having them, he looked straight into X's eyes.

"I couldn't bear who you were becoming, X."  Light sighed.  "Your memories of Zero were very painful ones.  You were becoming angrier, more irrational, and a more spiteful person.  I didn't want to see that."

"I don't understand."  X looked slightly more concerned now.  He searched his creator's face for answers, but Light's expression betrayed nothing.

"Your view of the world changed after you met Zero.  Did you notice?  I didn't want that, so I decided with Zero's death, it was a good time to rid you of your memories of him.  I'd hoped that without those memories, you would be back to your old self."  Light shook his head, weighed down with deep regret.  "However, I realize now I have no right to do that to you.  It is your decision to make.  After all, it is your life to lead.  I am restoring your memories of Zero now."  

X staggered back a bit, and different scenes flashed across the screen.  

One particular scene was of a horrified X looking over a maverick that was laying on the ground in two pieces.  Zero was standing nearby with his back towards X, with the Z-Saber humming in his right hand.  Small amounts of smoke was emanating from the dead maverick.

"Why did you turn your back on him, X?"  Zero asked.  "He was about to shoot you in the back."

"I convinced him to come back to the lab with me."  X did not take his eyes off the dead maverick.  "He…"

"Was lying."  Zero finished.  "You're too gullible, X."

The screen cut to another scene, Zero had one of his hands around X's throat, a wild look in his eyes.  "Allow me to finish off your miserable career."  Zero's voice echoed.  

Another scene appeared on the screen, again with Zero and X.  

"It's not use."  X shook his head.  "I'm no match for Vile.  I'm too weak to do anything."  

"You just need to get used to the war."  Zero said as he helped X up.  "You're still too soft, you know that?"

Now X was by himself, lying on the ground, heavily damaged from battle.  His matted hair, which was poking out from under his cracked helmet, partially covered one of his eyes.  His armor was covered with dents and scratches.  Several exposed wires from underneath his armor cracked with electricity.  Around him were flames and bodies of several Reploids.  Zero's laid nearby, broken into several pieces.  To his other side were the remains of Sigma.  X looked desperately around, but seemed helpless to do anything else.

The scene flashed back to Dr. Light and X.  The hunter took several steps away from Light, and started at the scientist with disbelieving eyes.  

"You were becoming more like Zero… and even worse than him."  Light frowned.  "I couldn't agree with what you were…about to do."

"About… to… do….?"  

Light simply nodded.  "I don't have a right to stop you.  In many ways _I_ was the source of this problem to begin with.  As your creator, I will stand by you, no matter you become… because you're more than a mere creation."

X seemed to understand now, and he wiped the shocked expression off his face.  His features hardened.  He closed his eyes and nodded.  "I know now."  X slowly opened his eyes, his stare completely different than just moments before.  "I'm sorry you disagree with me, but I have to fix this."

"I will… help you."  Light said reluctantly.  "Perhaps you are right."

The screen went dark.

"What was that?"  Aya asked.

"Something very, very bad…"  Sky shook her head.  "Now I don't know what's going on at all… I was so sure Wily was behind tricking X, but there's no way to be sure if that was really Light talking."

"Is this why Commander X..."  Aya trailed off.

"Probably."  Dr. Sky shuddered.  Sky did not know what exactly X had planned, but it was probably bad news if he thought killing her was part of it.  

--------------------------

It did not take long for Zero to find X.  Alia reported that one of the un-numbered areas near Cove-15 was under heavy fire.  Zero arrived to see X, who was watching the building being eaten by flames.  X's expression was unrecognizable to Zero.  He was staring at the flames like it was the vilest thing in all the worlds.  

"X!"  Zero shouted out to the blue hunter, who did not seem surprised.  X turned and greeted Zero.  

"Zero, you've come to see this, too?"

"What are you doing?"  Zero was weary of X, but the blue hunter did not look like he was going to attack.  

"This is a maverick base.  I came to clean house."  X's eyes challenged Zero.  "Are you here to stop me?"

"Did you just kill everyone?"  Zero looked around.  No one came running from the building, but he was sure a place like this was habited.  

"Yes."  X replied simply.  "There's no reason to rehabilitate mavericks."

"What?!"  Zero couldn't believe those words were coming out of X's mouth.  X was the champion of giving second chances, always granting the benefit of the doubt even to those who don't deserve it.  Zero was the one who felt no wrong about just killing mavericks.  He wasn't sorry if the ones who just died were Mavericks, what was wrong is that X's sudden change of attitude.  

X suddenly looked very sad, but forced a smile on his face.  "All Reploids must die."

"All Reploids must die?"  Zero repeated.  "You can't possibly mean…"

"Yes, Zero.  All Reploids.  Mavericks, Hunters, everyone.  What is the source of all this?"  X motioned towards the flames.  "Reploids.  Light made a mistake.  He should never have built me.  Every Reploid built from my schematics are consequences of Light's mistake.  Now it's my job to correct these mistakes."

"What about Dr. Sky?  You killed her, too.  How does she fit in the master plan?"

"All scientists with knowledge about Reploids must also be disposed of."  X closed his eyes.  "It's the only way to ensure this will never happen again."

"Listen to yourself."  Zero shook his head.  "What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened to me, Zero."  X said in an annoyed tone.  "I always knew what the source of the problem was.  My naive self just didn't want to believe it was true."  X started to walk away from Zero.  "For now I'm only going after Mavericks, but…"  He paused and looked at Zero again.  "...anyone who gets in my way is next on the list."  With that, X teleported out.

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	12. Familiar Faces

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 12: Familiar Faces**

Emma strolled down the halls of Maverick Hunter HQ, drawing surprised looks, coos, and a couple of pets from the Hunters.  After a couple of minutes of wandering around, looking for Zero, she decided to consult the map by the main elevators.  Unfortunately for the little bot, she walked right in the path of Commander Doyle of the 13th unit as he was exiting the elevator.  As Emma was is only two and a half feet tall, Doyle did not notice the assistant bot at all.

"What the?"  Doyle looked down when he felt something hit his shin and bounce off.  "Oh!"  The hunter rushed to Emma and helped her get back to her feet.  "Are you alright?"  Emma beeped.  "I apologize.  I should have noticed."  Doyle bent down and studied the bot.  "Have we met?  You seem familiar."  Emma tilted her head, trying to recognize Doyle herself, but finally shook her head.  "Ah, well, maybe I'm just getting old.  Well, are you here to visit someone?"  Emma nodded, and showed Doyle a letter addressed to Zero.  "Commander Zero.  Ahh.  Delivering a love letter, perhaps?  Zero is a sly one with the ladies.  Are you one of his admirers?"  Emma blushed slightly and shook her head again, beeping a reply.  "Dr. Sky?"  Doyle furrowed his brow in thought.  "Well, shall I lead you to Zero?"  He stood back up and lead Emma back to the elevator.  On the second floor training room, they found Zero.  

Emma promptly handed the letter to Zero, along with several data chips.  Zero took a minute to read the letter.

_Dear Zero,_

_            Hi hi!  It's me, Dr. Sky.  I'm asking Emma to deliver this letter along with a copy of the data I salvaged from the session X had on the machine.  You should be as confused as I am when you finish watching.  Now I'm not sure what roles Dr. Light and Dr. Wily play in X's sudden change.  Watch the video and tell me what you think._

_            I did manage to confirm that Dr. Wily was using signals from your sessions to boost the energy of the Zero Virus.  This would explain how the Zero virus suddenly got more violent around the time we started your sessions.  We know at least that much is Wily's fault.  : p__ Remind me to delete him with satisfaction should I ever find his program again. _

_            To find out what in the world is going on with X, I'm leaving on a trip to find one of Dr. Light's pods.  If what Alia tells me about Light's upgrade pods are true, then I should be able to activate one and ask him a couple of questions.  Alia kindly furnished me with a copy of locations for the discovered pods, which should help me greatly in my search for the new ones.  (Urgh, from what she also told me, activated pods cannot be activated again, so I have to go find a fresh one ^_^) _

_            Don't worry about my condition, because I'm as good as new!  I couldn't get Aya to leave until I showed her I was completely healed.  Thanks for sending her over, though, she's an absolute sweetie.  We have a lot in common, and she was very helpful around the lab.  Remind me to go thank her again next time I stop by the base._

_            Okay, I have to go.  I should be back at the lab in a couple of days.  I'll drop by the HQ and we can compare notes then, okay?  Try not to confront X until I get back, okay?  Remember the old adage: "Fools rush in."   If indeed X made this decision on his own… then you will need to approach the battle in a whole new way, if you know what I mean.  I hope I find something useful…I don't want to see X… well, this is going on long enough. _

_                                                                                                            Take Care,_

_                                                                                                                        Sky_

"Made some new friends while you've been away, Zero?"  Doyle smiled.  "Who's Dr. Sky?"  Zero looked like he was about to ask something when Doyle cut him off.  "The little one told me who wrote the letter."

"She's helping with the Virus investigation."  Zero replied, slightly defensively.  

"Oh?"  Doyle said in an inquisitive voice.  "How come no one told me?"

"It's not official."  Zero started to put away some equipment.

"I should still have been informed of any developments, with or without the official stamp."  Doyle crossed his arms, looking slightly more serious than before.  "Try to inform our unit next time.  We are also part of the investigation."  Doyle turned and strolled out the door.

Emma and Zero started after him, and then turned to look at each other.

"That guy has an attitude problem."  Zero said flatly. 

"Bleep."  

-------------------------

"Urrgh."  Dr. Sky grunted as she pulled herself over another ledge.  After clawing her way up to safety, she sat down to rest.  Small sounds could be heard over the ledge.  "Okay, okay, I'm on it."  Sky started to retract a rope hooked to her waist, and soon, Evariste, one of the assistant bots, also climbed over the edge, bringing with him the other end of the rope.  The two had been tethered together for safety.  "You okay?"  Sky dusted off the small assistant bot, who coughed at the disturbance of dust.  "Hopefully we're almost there, because it's been two days already and we haven't found a thing!"

Evariste started to jump excitedly up and down, pointing to something behind his creator.  Sky turned around and saw a medium sized opening, just large enough for her to fit through.  Silently she thanked herself for not indulging on that cheese cake before the trip as she slipped inside the cave.  A beam of light traveled through the dark cave as she turned on her flashlight.  Other than the soft footsteps of Evariste and herself, nothing could be heard.  She moved the beam of light around the walls, seeing nothing special.  After several turns and about a mile in the caves, Sky decided to turn around and go back. 

"Mark our route off in the map, okay?"  Sky said to Evariste, who gave an affirmative beep.  "Why don't we rest a little while we're here?  The air quality reading is good; I can take my helmet off.  Let's have lunch."  She hit a switch on the side of her helmet, took it off, and shook her hair out.  With that done, she looked around for a relatively flat area in the ground and sat down.  From inside her backpack, she took out an energy cell and motioned for Evariste to walk over.  After plugging in the new energy cell, she took out her own lunch bag from her pack.  "Mmmm… more rations."  She laughed as she took out a small bar of rations, no larger than the size of her index finer and took a bite.  "Looks like I'm just eating cardboard, doesn't it?"  She asked Evariste, who slowly nodded.  "It's actually not that bad.  Somehow they fit 1/3 of the daily requirement of liquid and solids in this little bar.  Oh come on, you can't be getting sick of it faster than I am.  I'm the one digesting it.  Why are you getting so upset?"  Evariste was jumping up and down again, but this time, his expression was different.  

She suddenly realized Evariste wasn't upset at the ration bar, but probably upset at something big, ugly, and most likely Maverick behind her.  The Maverick came into view as she turned around.  He didn't seem very well armed, but did have a plasma gun strapped to the side of his waist.  Sky toyed with the idea that she could outdraw the Maverick, but considering she was in an awkward sitting position, that wasn't likely to happen.  

"Who are you?"  The Maverick demanded in a rough voice.  He obviously didn't think she was worthy enough of a threat, because he made no move for his weapon.

"Me?"  Sky popped the rest of the ration bar into her mouth.  "I'm the new hire."  She casually finished chewing and got up. She dusted her pants off, stalling for time when gauging the Maverick's reaction.  

"New… hire?"  From the tone of his voice, the Maverick didn't seem to buy what she said yet.  "The Commander didn't say anything about a new hire."

_Yes, Dr. Sky thought to herself, __we have ourselves an idiot._

"Are you sure?  The Commander asked me to come as soon as I can.  Didn't anyone tell you why?"  The Maverick shook his head.  "Well I'm afraid I probably shouldn't tell you either.  Why don't you let me gather my things and I'll follow you to the base?"  She started packing her pack back together, acting as casual as possible.

"Uh… do you know what division you're supposed to report to?"  The Maverick asked.

"I know I'm supposed to see the commander first."  Sky said confidently.  "The Commander is in right?  I was told I would meet the Commander first thing upon arrival."  

"Uh… okay."  The Maverick turned around and started to lead the way.  It was now or never.  Sky reached for the plasma gun behind her, quickly made sure it was set on the lowest setting, apologized to anyone who said shooting someone in the back was wrong, and stunned the maverick.  

"Arugh!!"  The Maverick screamed before falling to the floor.  Sky stood for a couple moments with her gun trained on the Maverick to make sure he wasn't about to bounce up and attack.  She knelt over the body and checked the Maverick was still operational.  He's still alive.  She sighed.   

"What was that?"  She heard someone yell from further down the tunnel.  She swore under her breath and quickly got out a small explosive from her bag.  She brought it along to go through any walls that might block a crucial path, but now she needed it to block her enemy's route.

"Hurry, run!"  She ushered Evariste towards in the opposite direction, while she headed further into the tunnel—being careful to set the explosive so that the unconscious maverick would not get caught in the blast—to plant the explosive.  After the timer was set, she ran past the unconscious maverick—apologizing again as she passed—and after Evariste.  Not ten seconds later, a blast of wind and debris hit the two from behind, dropping them to the ground.  Sky kept her eyes closed until the dust settled.  When the dust settled, though, an unwelcome sound of a plasma gun charging up behind her could be heard.

"Get up."  Sky recognized the voice of the Maverick she just talked to as she slowly pushed herself off the ground.  She quickly glanced around as she stood up, looking for signs of Evariste.  Her hopes rose a bit as she saw Evariste positioned right out of view from the Maverick, behind a large, conveniently placed rock.

"Get out of here!"  Sky mouthed urgently to Evariste with her back still turned to the Maverick.  "Get Zero."  She continued.

"Where's your small friend?"  The Maverick asked.  Sky could see the small assistant bot go stiff with fear.  

"I don't know."  Sky said.  "He's kind of small… and that was a big blast… he could be anywhere."  She tried her best to keep calm, but even with her back turned, she knew the plasma gun was still fully charged and pointed right at her.  

"No matter."  The Maverick's voice got closer.  "Let me thank you for what you did earlier."  He whispered into her ear, sending a chill down her spine.  Instinctively, she bent her knees, whipped around, and sent an elbow right into the Maverick's unarmored stomach.  The gong like sound her elbow made with the Maverick's stomach was a painful reminder that some Reploids have titanium lined skin.  She gripped her elbow, in too much pain to scream.  Stealing a glance back to the rock, she saw that her distraction gave Evariste a chance to escape.  

"Damn it!"  The Maverick raised his plasma gun and viciously swung it down towards her head.  Her arms flew up to block the blow, but the Maverick was much stronger, so her arms didn't slow him down at all.

"Ahhh!"  Her scream echoed as she was sent flying down the tunnel.  She winced as she landed on her side, sending a sharp pain up her right arm.  She didn't have time to react before the Maverick was in her face again.  He easily picked her up by the cuff of her suit and breathed angrily inches from her face.  

"You STUPID woman."  He growled, and his eyes narrowed to slits.  Sky urgently tried to push him away, but only succeeded in straining her arm even more.  The Maverick laughed at her futile attempt, and then pulled her even closer.  "Having fun wasting your time?"  She stopped after several more pushes, having worn herself out.  Instead, she glared angrily at the Maverick while trying to catch her breath.  "Done?  Well then it's time to die."  She closed her eyes and silently said goodbye to no one in particular.  

The Maverick suddenly looked undecided, and studied her face again.  "Hey… it's you!"  Sky opened her eyes again and looked at the Maverick, who now had a sinister smile on his face.  "I'll get a promotion for sure!"  He balled up his other fist and hit her in the stomach.  Her mouth opened, but no sounds escaped from her throat.  Her body grew limp and she fell against the Maverick.  She heard the Maverick laugh again, and then she heard nothing at all.

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	13. Plots Revealed

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 13: Plots Revealed**

"How are you doing?"

X was dreaming again, inside the machine that he built according to Dr. Light's directions.  It was modeled exactly after Dr. Sky's machine.  Light told him that this would give them a better way to communicate.  X did not argue.  A lot of things have stopped mattering since that day at Dr. Sky's lab.  The only thing he should be worried about now is finishing his job.

Yet…he felt something was wrong.  He considered this for many years, and have finally decided correcting Light's mistake is the solution…

"I'm fine Dr. Light."  X turned and addressed the hologram of his creator.  "It's going well.  The Virus detector you fitted me with works great."

_At the end of the plan, after getting rid of all the other Reploids, I would have to deactivate myself.  This nagging feeling…am I afraid to die?_

"How come you didn't fight Zero?"  Light asked, his tone heavier than before.

"He didn't try to stop me."  X replied.  "I'm getting rid of the Mavericks first."

"Eventually he'll try to stop you.  How many more times do you think you can get away from the scene before he shows up?"  Light turned and crossed his hands behind him.  "You will have to fight him."

"I know."  X said, slightly regrettably.

----------------------

A Reploid entered a small makeshift laboratory.  She noted X was resting inside a recharge pod, and a small computer sitting on the desk by the side.  The screen flickered to life and an image of Dr. Light came on the screen.  

"Who are you?"  Light demanded.  The Reploid stepped into the light.

"I'm Aya, a Maverick Hunter.  You must be the famous scientist from many years ago."  Aya sat down in the chair and faced the monitor.  "Can X hear us?"  

"No…"  Light studied Aya suspiciously, the ladder giving little hints on why she was here and how she found this place. 

"Good," said Aya, "So you can stop this charade…"  Aya crossed her arms.  "Dr. Wily."

A strange smile crossed Light's face, then the screen flickered and Dr. Wily's face graced the monitor.  Wily was obviously impressed by the Hunter, but he was even more curious as to what she was here to do.

"Indeed, I am Dr. Wily.  Now, how did you find this place and how did you know who I was?"  

Aya raised an index finger in the air and shook it slightly.  "The answer to the first question is a trade secret."  Aya winked.  "Let's just say I make it a habit to know about everyone's whereabouts.  The answer to the second question is simply that I do much more than read between the lines of history books.  Light would never have said those things to X that you did during the session.  If it's not Light, it had to be you."  

"Very good."  The scientist half cackled.  "Very good."

"X would have figured it out, too, if he wasn't blinded by the pain of losing his friend over and over again…"  She leaned on the desk, closer to the monitor.  "A weakness you used to your advantage.  It is a most worthy scheme on your part."

"You still haven't told me why you are here, Ms. Aya."  Wily raised one eyebrow.  "You're not here to catch me, or bring X back to the hunters, or you would have brought others."

"How do you know they're not outside right now?"  Aya toyed with the old scientist.  "Of course, they are not.  In any case, you're right; I'm here to do neither."  Aya gave Wily a toothy grin, a strange glint in her eyes.  "I have nothing of worth to gain from doing those things.  Instead I came here to ask you about the Zero Virus."

"Oh?  And what does a nice young lady like you want to do with the Zero Virus?"

"The increased power output levels of infected Reploids."  Aya's declaration was met with a moment of silence, while Wily rubbed his chin in thought.

"So…you were the one spreading the Zero Virus all over the coves, just so you could study the power output levels."  

Aya tiled her head back and let out a sharp laugh.  "No, I'm not the fool who risked an outbreak just for a few numbers.  I certainly wouldn't have gotten myself infected in the meantime, either."  

"And who might this 'fool' be?"  Wily pulled at his mustache, slightly curious.

"Trade secret."  Aya smiled.  "If you have something to trade me for this piece of info, then maybe I'll consider telling you."  

"Well, this 'fool' is not important to my plan right now, but you seem like a promising young lady, why don't you join my team.  If I am successful with this plan, then I can tell you all you want to know about the Zero Virus."

Aya stood up and moved to the recharge pod.  "Your plan is just to get Zero back to your side so he can finish off this cutie, right?"  The hunter drew a weapon and pointed it at X.  "Why don't you just finish it right now?"

"Heh," Wily wasn't alarmed by Aya's move.  "It's not that simple.  If I just kill X, Zero would never return to me.  No, X would the martyr that makes him want to stay with the Hunters even more."  

"Okay."  Aya put the weapon back in its holster.  "But I always go the direct route when possible."   She started for the door.  "I'll keep your offer in mind, but I prefer instant gratification."  She sent a wink back to Wily.  "So unless you're ready to give me the information I want, you might want to consider me an enemy."  Casually she walked passed the doorway and left Wily alone with X.

"A new variable?"  Wily's eyes narrowed, but a grin remained on his face.  "This will only make it more fun."  His laugh echoed menacingly down the deserted hallways.  

-----------------

"Owww…"  Dr. Sky gripped her stomach as she woke up.  "What did I have for dinner last night?..."  Suddenly realizing what happened to her, she bolted up into a sitting position.  She was in a cell, a dark one at that.  The only light source was from the small barred window on the back wall.  

_Okay, let's narrow down the suspects.  Dr. Sky thought to herself.  __Who would want to catch you alive, and lock you up in a cell?  She closed her eyes.  __Someone affiliated with Mavericks.  Who would know me?  _

_"Hey… it's you!"  Dr. Sky recalled the Maverick saying to her.  __"I'll get a promotion for sure."_

_No one had seen me in awhile, except for X, Zero, Alia, Dr. Cain and Aya, and they wouldn't do this to me.   Her eyes grew wide.  __It must be her.  But that doesn't make sense.  How would she know I was alive in the first place?  She thinks I'm dead, so why would she tell her subordinates to keep an eye out for me?_

The heavy metal door started to slide open, and a figure stood at the doorway.  The light was coming from behind the figure, so Dr. Sky couldn't make out who the person was.  She squinted, her eye sensitive to the sudden increase in light level.  

"Hello Azria.  I never thought we'd meet again."  The feminine voice was gentile, but had a menacing edge to it.

"I knew it."  Dr. Sky replied, making no effort to contain her disgust.  "How did you know I was alive?"

"You mean after you were supposed to have died by my hands that time we met?"  The figure laughed.  "I only found out recently.  Coming back out from hiding was a bad idea, especially when you know yours, and your parents' killer is still at large.  It didn't take long before news of your hanging out at Hunter HQ to reach me.  Especially since I _work there."_

"Work…there…"  Her mind suddenly filled with thoughts of the other hunters.  If this manic was working there, they would all be in danger.  "What are you doing with the Hunters?!"  

"I'm just learning more about the Sigma Virus.  You know me, Azria, always looking for new sources of power.  The Sigma Virus seemed very promising.  Naturally I joined up with the Hunters to find out more…. After all, I thought you took your parents' legacy to the grave with you.  A girl's gotta make a living.  

"And what fun it was when a new strain, the Zero Virus appeared!  It was superior to the Sigma Virus in every way: infection rate, energy output, everything!  I had to find out more.  It's a marvelous virus!  I refined a new strain from the data I collected."

"Data?  You couldn't have collected enough data…unless you knew where the attacks were going to be beforehand and set up… YOU were the one spreading the virus?!"  The figure made no attempt to deny the charge, and Dr. Sky's stomach turned upside down.  "You got all those people killed just for DATA?!"  She didn't think she could regard her parents' killer with any more distain than she felt all these years, but she was wrong.  

"I would love to go back and look at the nanites side project of yours, but right now I've got bigger fish to fry, so you can stay here and wait until I'm ready to deal with you."  The figure turned to go, and it was then that Dr. Sky caught the figure's profile.

"Wait a minute."  Dr. Sky called out.  "You're not Allison!"  

The figure turned back and drew a weapon, lighting the room as it came to life.  It was a double headed laser baton.  Dr. Sky's jaw dropped when she saw the figure's face.  

"You're not Allison…"  She shook her head.

"Wrong."  The figure said in a female voice, which was eerie since the voice belonged to a male Reploid.  "I am Allison."  He continued to speak in the female voice.  "I just…got a make over."  He grinned, enjoying every moment of Dr. Sky's horror.  "I had to change my look, since the police and Hunters were all looking for Allison Sky, Maverick.  So I became" his voice changed back to a male voice "Commander Doyle, Maverick Hunters, 13th Unit."  

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	14. Break!

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 14:  Break!**

"Zero, I need you to check this out for me."  Zero turned from the data pad he was studying and saw Aya of the 13th unit rushing up to him with one of her own.  Zero quickly skimmed over the data and looked a bit annoyed and curious.

"This is an abandoned, above-ground compound."  Zero tapped the screen.  "Why are you showing this to me?"

"We got wind that there are Mavericks hanging out at that compound.  Since Commander X has been hitting mainly Maverick compounds, I thought…"  Zero jumped out of his seat and gave Aya a quick pat on the shoulder before tearing out of the room.  

"Thanks!"  He yelled as he disappeared past the doorway.  An amused look crossed Aya's face.

"This should be fun."  She mused.  

"Aya, have you seen Zero?"  Fade, one of the members of X's 17th unit poked her head through the doorway, carrying something in her arms.  

"He just left for a mission."  Aya approached the other Hunter and tried to get a better look at the bundle in Fade's arms.  "Why do you need him?"

"Someone's looking for him; another one of those little bot things."  Fade showed Aya the assistant bot wrapped in a metallic thermo blanket.  "He's not doing well, but he'll live.  Said something about needing Zero's help and gave me a set of coordinates before he passed out."

Aya considered the bot for a second.  Surely this had something to do with Dr. Sky.  

"Show me the coordinates."  Fade presented a sheet of paper with coordinates written on it.  Aya immediately recognized it.  "You said 'another one of those little bot things.'  Has another one been by before?"

"Yes, a couple of days ago."  Fade tiled her back slightly in thought.  "She was very cute… Emma was her name, I think.  Commander Doyle accidentally ran into her, and then teased her about writing a love letter to Zero."  

The pieces started to fall into place.  _Of course Doyle would recognize Emma.  Aya thought.  She recalled from her research a photograph of the Sky family…standing before their new laboratory years ago.  Their daughter, Azria Sky, held a doll tightly in that photograph.  Emma was modeled after that doll.  Doyle __would remember; having lived with the Sky's since activation.  _

_Sky would still be alive, but not for long._

"I'll take care of it."  Aya smiled.  "Take the bot to the infirmary and have Alia or Douglas take a look at him."  She looked down at Evariste, who started to open his big blue eyes.  "Don't worry about Dr. Sky, okay?  I'll take care of her."  Evariste nodded and closed his eyes again.  "Better hurry."

------------------------------------

Klink.

Something made a noise outside of Dr. Sky's cell.  _From the window.  Normally this would not be a noise she would investigate.  It would either be Milnor, one of the more playful assistant bots trying to set up a trap for the others, or an escaped squirrel outside from her green house_

_But this window doesn't lead to outside.  It leads to one of the tunnels that the Mavericks dug.  There are__ no squirrels.  Not to mention I'm bored to death.  Sky moved to the window and stood on her tip toes to peer out.  __Nothing but dirt… __must be my imagination._

"HI!"  Someone stuck her head within view, causing Dr. Sky to fall backwards with surprise.  "Are you okay?"  Dr. Sky looked up and saw it was Aya.

"Dang it, Aya, did you have to do that?!"  The scientist nursed her back as she got up.  "But I am glad to see you.  Did Evariste make it back to the base okay?"  

"Yeah, someone's taking care of him."  Aya peered around the small cell.  "Wow, what horrible accommodations."

"I'm not here on vacation!"  Sky protested angrily, waving her arms in the air.  "Get me out of here!"  

"Okay, okay."  Aya presented a laser cutter.  "Just give me a little time to make this hole bigger."  Sky nodded and stood back as Aya slowly cut through the bars.  She just hoped someone wouldn't discover them in the meantime. 

"Time for dinner."  Someone announced outside Sky's door.  

_Ahhh__!  I spent hours here without food or water and now __they decide to bring me food?  Of all the times… during my escape?!  _

"Uh… I'm not hungry right now!"  Sky tried to speak loudly to drown out the noise of the laser cutter.  The door started to open and she impulsively shoved it back.  "A girl and her diet, you know!"  She nervously laughed.  Even Aya rolled her eyes at the terrible excuse.  

"Hey!"  The Maverick on the other side of the door shouted.  "You made me spill this soup!  Now you're going to get it!"  He shoved the door open, which threw Sky slightly backwards.  The Maverick first looked angrily at Sky, then with surprise at Aya.  "What the…"

Sky spun around.  "I've got to tell you Aya!  Allison, no Doy-"  The Maverick clamped his hand over Sky's mouth and started to drag her off.  "Mmmmff!!!"  Dr. Sky hit and kicked at the Maverick to no avail. Down the hallway from where Aya stood, several Maverick guards had been alerted of the intruder.

"I'll come back for you!"  Aya shouted before darting out of view from the window, sinking Dr. Sky's hope of escaping.  She stopped struggling and allowed the Maverick to drag her out of the cell.  What's worse, she hadn't managed to warn Aya about Doyle.  

-----------------------------------------------

X arrived at the abandoned compound.  The detector Dr. Light built him showed a massive reading of the Zero Virus at that place.  Normally Hunters could not track down Zero Virus readings from afar.  One of the Hunters must physically be in proximity for the reading to take place, making it hard to track down Maverick bases.  This detector Light built him was much superior.  The range was a good two thousand miles, making the effort a lot easier.

_Easier?  X thought to himself as he pushed the large doors to the hanger open.  __Should it be this easy?  The doors opened.  __It was never easy, and it shouldn't be easy now.  _

A Reploid landed not far from in front of him.  X immediately recognized the Reploid as a member of the 13th unit.

"Weaver?"  X couldn't contain his surprise.  The Hunter did not look like he was here on official business of any kind, and the look on the Hunter's face told X that Weaver had gone Maverick… and yet… how come he was getting no reading?

"X, so you've found this base."  Weaver casually slinked towards X.  "Are you here to kill us?"

"What are you doing here?"  X demanded.  

"My other job.  I suppose since you're about to die anyway, I can tell you that I've gone Maverick, along with a couple of other ex-friends of yours."  Weaver bared his teeth, almost smiling.  "Would you care to join us, now that you've officially renounced the Hunters?"

"I'll never be like you."  X shook his head.  "I still have a conscience."

"A conscience?"  Weaver said incredulously.  "A _conscience?!"  Weaver placed his hand on his chest for emphasis.  "I'm not the one killing every Reploid in sight!  At least I've got a narrower spectrum."  Weaver pointed his finger accusingly at X.  "You're just walking Death!  You're more of a monster than any one of us will be."  It was then that the Reploids actually emitting the Virus readings leaped out from behind the boxes and lunged at X.  Firing energy blasts to push the rush of Mavericks back, X looked for an out.  _

He was in the lower in ground position, a disadvantage with a long distance weapon.  

Right now it would make sense to draw the Z-saber.  He could take care of more of them close range with a sword swing than an energy blast.  Yet he couldn't bring himself to do it.  

_It's Zero's sword.  The Mavericks started to close in, there were too many of them to deal with like this.  _

An green blur of light slashed through the Mavericks closest to X.  When the Mavericks fell, Zero's and X's eyes met.  Without words, they agreed now was not the time for them to fight and continued to work on killing the Mavericks.  When they were done, their attention turned to Weaver.

"What are you doing here?"  Zero asked Weaver, already suspecting the truth.  "Those Mavericks looked like they were taking orders from you."  

"He's a Maverick."  X explained.  "He confessed, but I'm not getting a reading.  Are you?"

"Fool, it's not an ordinary strain of the Zero Virus."  Weaver started to glow.  "Now you'll both die."  In a bright flash, Weaver grew large talons in both arms and scratched them against each other.  "So who wants to go first?" 

Without another word, Zero drew his saber and leapt at Weaver, not noticing the large crate suspended in mid air above his path.  X saw one of the downed Mavericks eyeing it anxiously, waiting for the right moment to throw a kunai at the thin rope it hung from.  Before X could stop the Maverick, a kunai shot through the air towards the rope.  It was too late for Zero to stop by the time he noticed. 

X propelled himself through the air and grabbed Zero, throwing both of them off the falling crate's path.  Though they escaped the heavy crate, they were flying straight into some exposed steel beams from construction.  

Steel beams and debris exploded from where the two Hunters landed.  Zero winced at landing awkwardly on his back, but his internal systems told him everything was fine.  He looked and saw he narrowly missed getting skewered by some of the nearby beams.  Another couple of feet…

"Arrugh…"  Zero whipped his head around and saw that X had not been so fortunate.  A bloody steel beam protruded from his chest, live wires stuck out menacingly, and X's face looked very pale. 

"X!"  Zero wanted to do something, but moving X or trying to get the beam out could cause more damage.  Yet he couldn't just leave X sitting there.  

"I'm not finished with you!"  Weaver leaped at Zero, brandishing his talons.  Zero quickly reactivated his saber and jumped up to meet Weaver.  The light of the saber was intense, the fire superior to normal.  When the saber and Weaver's talons met, there was no contest.  Weaver was sliced immediately in half.  Zero gazed back at Weaver's remains, eyes burning with hatred.  A moment passed before Zero regained composure and rushed back to tend to X.

"X?..."  Zero surveyed the area around the pool of blood.  The blue Hunter, though, was nowhere to be found.  

"X."  Zero whispered sadly before turning to leave.  

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	15. Unwavering Decision

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 15:  Unwavering Decision**

"D-Doyle?"  X managed to ask hoarsely when he recognized the green Hunter pulling him free from the steel beams.  Zero was occupied momentarily by Weaver, and did not notice Doyle teleporting into the compound.  Doyle worked quickly, cutting off the beam and grabbing X in one swift motion.  X started to yell out, but, instead, blacked out from the pain of Doyle aggravating his injury.

------------------------

"Now get in there and stay there!"  Dr. Sky walked reluctantly into her new cell, this one fresh without a window of any kind, as the Maverick guard ordered.  

"You're charming."  She sarcastically said.

"Bite me."  The door slammed.  She was alone again.  

_It's been a long day.  She moved over and sat down at the back of the room.  __Nap time…  The back wall of the cell disappeared as soon as she leaned against it.  __Oh crud…  She grabbed for the edges of the wall, quickly lost her grip and started to plummet down._

Before she could turn around to see what she was falling toward, she already hit it.  The ice cold water was a shock to her system.  She kicked her way back to the surface and gasped.  Looking back up, she realized that the underground waterway wore down the wall the cell was built against.  

She made her way to the edge of the waterway and climbed back to dry land.  Activating the suit's drying feature, she instantly started to feel better.  At least she knew she wasn't going to freeze to death from hypothermia.  Something caught her eye at the corner of the cave.  With her breath held, she headed towards what looked like a hologram pod… one of Dr. Lights hologram pods!  

_Please tell me this is a new one.  She couldn't be sure, since she wasn't completely sure where she was located.  As she approached, a blue light shone down from the top of the pod, and something started to form within.  It took several seconds for Dr. Light's image to complete its form._

"Dr. Light?"  She asked timidly.  The other scientist looked with slightly wide eyes at her.

"Yes, that's me."  He looked closer at her.  "Who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Sky.  Uh… you don't know me, but I've been trying to find one of your pods for a couple of days now.  I need you find out a couple of things from you, about X."

"X?"  Said Dr. Light, who suddenly sounded more concerned.  "Is something wrong with him?"

"So, you didn't tell him you would help him eliminate all Reploids?"  

Dr. Light's jaw dropped slightly, and Sky proceeded to explain about the machine, X's memory, "Dr. Light's" conversation with X, and what X told Zero about killing every Reploid.  Light shook his head when Sky finished.

"I most certainly didn't tell him any of that…although my imposter was correct about X's memory."  The older scientist sighed.  "I did block his access to that."

"The blue light I saw when I found Zero at the crash site… that was you?"

"Most likely.  I was afraid of what he was becoming… but I never imagined he would take such extreme measures."

"He's probably just being tricked by Dr. Wily.  If you could just talk to him, maybe he'll stop."

"I can't just beam a projection of myself out whenever I want.  It's complicated."

"Well, not a more dire situation than now."  She said desperately.  "You did it last time, can't you just try?"  The scientist shook his head.  

"You can bring him back here."  Light suggested.  "As long as this pod hasn't given an upgrade it can be reactivated again."

"Uh…"  She rolled her eyes, but didn't want to insult the scientist (or even his hologram) by pointing out the obvious too bluntly.  "He did try to kill me, so it could be… difficult getting him to follow me here."

"Do you have some kind of device I could record a message on?  I could ask him myself."

"No… the stupid Mavericks took my pack...  WAIT!"  She unlatched the necklace around her neck and presented a small locket.  "Can you send data infrared?  Good.  You can record a short message on this for X.  It's a mini hologram projector."  She opened it to show Dr. Light.  "What're you going to say?"

-------------------------

"Ugh."  X groaned as he came to.  His chest still burned with pain.  Upon inspection, he saw that the damage from the steel beam was very poorly repaired.  Blood-stained bandages covered his chest, and a couple of wires had been reconnected, but from what he felt like, X could tell this was a botched up repair job.  X tried to get up from the chair, but he only managed to stand up briefly before a wave of nausea sent him back down.  The slight commotion alerted Doyle, who stood nearby.  The green Reploid flashed a smug smile at X.

"I thought your mission was to kill all Reploids."  Doyle raised an eyebrow.  "How come you decided to save Zero?"  X turned away from Doyle's gaze and started at something else.  "Fine, don't answer.  Your little mission doesn't concern me anyway.  Now that Zero's onto the 13th Unit's true mission, you're going to be the ace up my sleeve."  The green Reploid walked towards the exit and opened the door.  "Don't try to get up to go anywhere, X, I didn't exactly finish repairing you, so moving too much will only do yourself harm."  Doyle winked at X before closing the door behind him.

------------------------

Dr. Sky watched from around the corner as Doyle left the laboratory.  _Did I hear him correctly?  Did he say X? _

After leaving Dr. Light's hologram pod, she decided to head back to the Maverick base for her helmet, or a different environment suit, since she would need it when she got aboveground.  As she was sneaking through the base, though, she happened to stumble upon part of Doyle's conversation.

She waited a minute for Doyle to clear from the hallway.  Checking the coast is clear, she moved stealthily to the door Doyle just closed and pressed her ear against it.  Someone was moving inside, but she couldn't make out what else.  She debated for a moment whether or not this was a trap, but finally decided if she hung out in the hall for too long, she was bound to get caught.  

The door was, surprisingly, not locked.  She quietly slipped inside the lab and saw that X was indeed inside, but in very bad shape.  X was slumped over the chair he was sitting in; one hand gripped some bloody bandages covering his chest armor.  The Hunter looked up and froze.  

His face went snow white and he stared unblinkingly at the scientist as she approached.  

"What happened to you?"  She asked as she looked at the bandages.  When he did not answer, she waved a hand in front of his face.  His hand shot up and grabbed hers, surprising her a little, but he continued to be the one who looked more shocked.  

"How…"  X held onto her hand, hoping to find that it was just air he was holding onto.  

"Could I be alive?"  She pulled her hand back. "It's a long story.  But you need to listen to me.  You're being tricked by Dr. Wily!  Light's not the one who talked to you in the machine.  Come with me to see Dr. Light.  I found a pod nearby.  He'll explain everything to you."  She unlatched the locket from her heck again and handed it to X.  "He wanted you to see this."  He reached for the locket, recognizing it to be the kind that contained small messages and holograms, and opened it.  A small blue hologram appeared from the inside.  It was Dr. Light.

"X," The hologram spoke amidst some static, "you know I would never condone mass killings."  Light shook his head.  "Dr. Sky told me about what's happening.  I need to see you immediately.  There is much to explain to you.  You must go with her."  The hologram stopped moving.  

"Okay, now that that's clear," Dr. Sky started to gather some nearby tools "let me fix you up a little so you can move, and then we'll go see Dr. Light before Doyle comes back."

"No."  

Dr. Sky stopped in her tracks and looked incredulously at X.  

"What do you mean no?"  She dropped the tools onto a nearby desk and crouched to look X at eye-level.  "Don't you understand?  Wily's tricking you.  You have to go see Dr. Light.  He can help you."

"I know about Wily."  X placed a hand on her shoulder.  "But that doesn't change my decision one bit."  

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	16. A Lost Friend

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 16: A Lost Friend**

For what seemed like an eternity, Dr. Sky stared wordlessly at who she thought she knew as the Legendary B-Class Hunter X.  Although she would have to confess she didn't know him long, from the accounts of the other Hunters, and the ones from the people he managed to save during the Maverick Wars, she thought he was deep down a good person.  Her hopes of repairing X and bringing him back to the side of the Hunters was always in her mind…but now…

"Are you…completely mad…?"  She searched deep in his gaze, trying to find any sign of doubt in his eyes.  "You knew it was Dr. Wily and you went along with it…"  X took his hand off her shoulder and stared downwards, not able to meet her accusing eyes.  

"I… overheard him talking to himself as I was waking up one day."  X said evenly.  "He doesn't know I heard…  By then… I'd already…"  He returned her stare now, and defended his position.  "Maybe this is for the best.  It finally forced me to do something about this senseless war.  I always knew this was the only solution."

"You know Wily's up to no good!"  She stood back up and threw her hands in the air.  "Doing anything he wants is an invitation to disaster!  He's a MAD scientist!"

"He could provide me with the equipment I needed, and now that I'm onto him, I can keep an eye on him as well."  

Dr. Sky's expression hardened.  Maybe she couldn't talk him out of it, but she hadn't tried everything yet.

"What changed, X?"  She shook her head.  "If you knew it was always the solution, why now.  Why not a year ago?"  X was at a loss for words for a moment, and she continued on.  "Something kept you from this simplistically idiotic method before…  What changed?"

"Me…"  He finally replied.  "I think I've gotten older."  He chuckled, almost cryptically, at the words.  "I've tried everything else.  You haven't been here, for this war.  No… you were sheltered in your own little lab while the rest of us drowned in each other's misery.  You decided to isolate yourself.  Well, I don't have the same luxury!"  For a second he looked furious, his eyes aflame.  "So don't you _dare tell me what an idiotic solution looks like."  _

She staggered back, shaking from his tone and his words.  At the sight of her reaction, X replaced the anger in his eyes with surprise.  He pulled his thoughts back to himself.  _What just happened?  Why did I suddenly get so angry?_

"This is exactly what Dr. Light feared."  She said, her voice still trembled slightly.  "You have to go see him.  You owe him at least that much."

"Fine."  He looked away again.  "I will go to Dr. Light's pod with you…  I need to talk things out with him."

--------------------------------

"Are you up here again?"  Zero heard Alia said as she approached.  

"Yes."  Zero replied.  Leaning against the guard wall, he let his gaze wander through the matrix of lights below.  There was really no point of having a roof anymore, since only 10 feet above him was the ceiling of the underground cove.  The only view the roof offered was of the other residents of the cove and the absolute misery in which they lived.

"You're the only one who comes up here."  Alia pointed out as she joined him by the guard wall.  "What really is there to see?"

"I've got a great imagination…"  Zero continued to stare beyond.  "It's not like the view's any better above ground."  

"Well, the committee just finished its initial evaluation on the 13th Unit."

"What did they say?" 

"They couldn't conclude on anything aside from the fact that Weaver went Maverick.  No links has yet been found tying the entire 13th Unit to the case."

Zero nodded.  "What did Doyle have to say about it?"

"He just said it was 'regrettable' that the 13th Unit lost someone as talented as Weaver."

"Great…" Zero made a mental note to keep an eye out on Doyle.  While he couldn't provide proof, he was sure Commander Doyle had dirty hands.

"Are you thinking about X again?"  Alia could read the answer even without a word from Zero.  "I'm sure he's fine…"

"He was bleeding a lot."  Zero's mind wandered back to scenes from the compound.  

"He's seen worse… he'll make it…. Besides, you said he saved you, right?  Doesn't that mean there's still hope that the real X we all know is still somewhere in there, despite what happened to him?"

Zero nodded.  _I want to believe that, too.  He wanted to ask Alia how she knew that the X running around killing Reploids isn't the real X, but he knew it wouldn't help to do so, so he simply nodded.  For now, he would believe that they could bring X back, not matter how slim the chances._

"Now come on."  Alia grabbed his arm and started to drag him back to the stairs.  "You're missing the meeting for evaluations."

"Ev… evaluations?"  Zero's eyes widened.  "I don't do evaluations.  I don't have a squad."

"Well… X isn't here, so technically you're the leader of the 17th unit.  I know you haven't been back all that long, but you have to be present at the meeting anyway, no matter how boring you feel it is."

"Nooooo!"  Zero mock screamed as he was lead back down the stairwell.

---------------------------

Dr. Sky finished the repairs on X, grabbed a new environment suit in the lab, and led X to Dr. Light's pod.  The two did not exchange many words during the trip, except for warning each other about the guards posted throughout the Maverick base.  Dr. Sky didn't want to talk with X, and X felt the same way.  It was quite a relief when they finally reached the pod and Dr. Light's hologram appeared.

"X…"  Dr. Light's hologram trailed off at the sight of X.  On sight, he could tell something's changed about X since the last time they met.  "Is it true?"

"About what Dr. Sky told you?  Yes."

"I'm convinced Dr. Wily is--" Light began.

"I know about him."  He studied his creator carefully; his reaction was not what he expected.  Light did not look surprised at all.

"Whether or not you know about him doesn't change the fact that he's manipulating you.  I've known him for a very long time, X, and I know how he works."  Light started to reach out for X, but remembered he couldn't move outside the confines of the projection module.  "You might think you're onto him, but he's very, very cunning.  Take that into consideration."

"I'll keep that in mind, Dr. Light… but now that you know my situation, there is nothing more I need to say to you."  X turned and started walking away.

"Wait!"  Dr. Sky finally said to X.  "You can't do this.  What about Zero?  How do you think he's going to feel if he can't tell himself this is all Wily's trick?"  X halted in his tracks.

"He can live with that."  X replied without turning around.

"You're wrong!  Damn it!  I might have only have known him for a month or so, but I know he'll just let it eat him alive, even if he looks fine on the outside.  You can't do this to him!"  Tears started fogging her vision, so she quickly wiped them away.  "Friends shouldn't end up this way!  He cares for you a lot, and I know you do too, or else he wouldn't consider you such an important person in his life."

The Blue Reploid turned and started walking back towards Dr. Sky.  He unlatched the Z-saber from the holster on his back and handed the sword handle to her.  "Please give this back to Zero.  I won't be needing it anymore.  And… tell him I'm sorry."  With that, he started walking away again.

"Hey!"  She started after him, but he turned around again.  The look in his eyes stopped her from continuing forwards.

"Don't."  He said simply, and he disappeared into the darkness beyond.

"You… you…. idiot."  She buried her face in her hands, her sobs echoed loudly down the cave passageway, but still fell on deaf ears as X continued walking away.

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	17. Promise

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 17: Promise**

"So, you're alleging that Commander Doyle is the same Reploid that murdered your parents, and is now a Maverick?"

Dr. Sky put down the glass of water she was drinking and eyed the committee nervously.  After X left her at Dr. Light's pod, Dr. Light provided her with some additional data that could be useful for attacking whatever is affecting X.  Only hours after her return to Maverick Hunter HQ (via hijacking a careless Maverick's motorbike), Zero pulled a couple of favors and scheduled an emergency meeting of the Internal Affairs Committee to review Doyle's case again.  

"Yes."  She said, causing several members of the committee to exchange skeptical glances.  While Zero and Aya did not doubt her story, others did not feel the same way.  She had no evidence except her own account.  

"We recognize the fact that you were captured by a band of Mavericks at the coordinates you've provided," One member of the committee spoke, "Since we have video evidence of that from Aya when she found you.  However, you have provided us with no evidence of Doyle's involvement with the Mavericks, and this committee has already reviewed the evidence at hand and cleared Doyle of any guilt."

"When we sent a team to investigate the area," another committee member joined in, "we found that the entire site had been destroyed and many Mavericks dead.  Due to that fact, we could find little to no information regarding the specific identities of those involved with the base."

Dr. Sky glanced back at Zero and Aya, who simply nodded at the committee member's comments.  

_Destroyed?!  She thought to herself.  __Was it X?  Or was it Doyle?_

"Upon your request and with the consent of Commander Doyle," the committee member continued and nodded towards Doyle, who was seated in the audience, "we have conducted a Zero Virus and a Sigma Virus scan on the Commander, and the results were both negative.  You have also suggested we do an internal ID scan of Commander Doyle to check his identity against Allison Sky, the Maverick positively identified as your parents' murderer.  Until you can provide more evidence, we have decided to decline this request, as that test would require us to take Commander Doyle offline for weeks."

Dr. Sky nodded; she knew at this point saying anything would be wasting her breath.  

"As for your allegations that Commander X is cooperating with Dr. Wily, due to lack of evidence, this committee cannot conclude that you are correct or incorrect."  The committee leader, seating in the center of the long table, clasped his hands together and leaned forwards.  "Commander X has been an indispensable part of the Hunters since the very early days of our organization.  We can only give him the benefit of the doubt at this point.  We have seen your video evidence of his attack at your lab, but we have also reviewed the transcripts of your machine and he seems to be influenced by another… we will not make a move against him until we have further evidence.

"We have concluded that your life is in danger, most likely due to the Zero Virus case at hand.  As you are a capable scientist yourself, we would like to invite you to stay at the Hunter's HQ as our guest for the duration of the investigation and assist Dr. Cain.  That way, we can keep you safe and you can help us with the investigation.  It is of course, your choice."

"Thank you."  Dr. Sky said softly.  She was dejected that all her allegations were shot down.  _I should have gotten some evidence first!  She scolded herself.  "I will stay to help with the investigation."  She glanced back at Doyle, who smiled at her delightfully.  He had either outsmarted her again, or had the good fortune that X destroyed his base at the most auspicious time.  Since the location of her lab is public knowledge, she would not be safe there until either Doyle's dead or she's dead._

"This meeting is adjourned."

-----------------------

Zero and Aya were both standing outside of the small auditorium as Dr. Sky made her out.  Dr. Sky noticed Zero still had X's Z-Saber in his hand.  He must have been holding it ever since she gave it to him.

_"Dr. Sky!"  Zero walked towards her as she entered the command center at the HQ.  Everyone in the room looked at her with a surprised expression, since her hair was a mess, and there was dirt on her face..  "What happened to you?"  Before she said a word, she grasped Zero's right hand and put X's Z-Saber in his palm.  "That's… is he…"_

_"He's fine.  Well, he's alive.  He asked me to give that to you, and to tell you that he's sorry."_

"That went beautifully didn't it?"  Dr. Sky shrugged.  Aya smiled at the comment, but Zero still stared straight at the ground.  She didn't blame him for not being talkative.  Aside from setting up the details of the committee hearing, he hadn't said a word since she told him about X.  

"You must be tired."  Aya draped an arm over Dr. Sky's shoulder.  "Why don't you go back to your quarters and get some rest."

"I think I'll take you up on that offer."  She followed Aya's lead and started to walk down the hallway.  

"Dr. Sky."  Zero finally looked up and caught up with the scientist.  She saw that he was gripping the Z-Saber tightly.  "I don't think X is really cooperating with Wily."  The look in his eyes was unmistakable.  He wanted assurance that his worst fears weren't true, that his best friend and his enemy weren't working together.

"I know, Zero."  Dr. Sky sounded tired.  

"Then why did you just accuse him of working with Wily?"  His teeth were clenched so tightly that he was shaking all over.  

"Come on, Zero."  Aya glanced at both Zero and Dr. Sky, slightly concerned.  "We can talk about this in the morning, can't we?"

"No," Dr. Sky took a breath and steeled her resolve, "we should clear this now.  I don't know X as long as you have, Zero, so I can't afford the benefit of the doubt you give to X.  All I know is what he said to me.  There is always the possibility that Wily is somehow still tricking X, but you have to prepare yourself for what he's capable of—"

"He's innocent.  I know it!"  Zero insisted, and leaned in further, trying to intimidate the correct answer out of her.  While she was angry at him for trying that, she also knew yelling at him would do as much good as arguing against the committee.  

"All I'm saying is that you should consider the possibility that he would kill you now and regret it later."  She replied softly.  "He could be your best friend…but people change."  

_"Wait, Zero! I-I'm serious!"  X's voice rang in Zero's head.  __"Zero... if... if I become a Maverick, you have to take care of me."_

"I know it."  Zero insisted, before turning away and marching angrily down the hallway.

_"Promise me, Zero."_

**Author's Notes: Hi!  This is your delirious author speaking ^_^ Hope you like the fic so far.  Sorry I haven't said much, but I wasn't sure where I was supposed to put comments since I sort of didn't want to put them in the fic, but don't want to add additional "chapters" or to put a review on my own story.  Well, here is it anyway.  To those who commented, thank you ^_^  If you want to read my comments on each chapter as I add them, please visit my homepage (when I update I put up some comments there.  I usually try to avoid putting up comments inside the stories themselves.).  If you do find inconsistencies with the main X storyline, please do point them out to me via e-mail or on the reviews page, because this time I'm trying to write as accurate of a fic to the canon stuff as possible.  No, this will not be a death fic.  I just die every time I read a death fic, or the ones that are too depressing, so you know that even through all the depression during the fic, I will not end this with super depression… but it won't be a sugar substitute ending either. **

To those who have read through chapter 17… you have now finished Act 1 of the story!  Bwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!!  These 17 Chapters (well, if you compress them into decent sized ones it's only 8 chapters) make up the beginning of the story.  The character cast is now set, so no new characters should, in theory, pop up.  Can you believe all these chapters are just to set up the story?  Phew.  Next up, you should expect a new source of dilemma for X and Zero.  (Those who don't want to read a preview turn away now!)  X discovers the mavericks have a weapon of mass destruction already completed and ready to use… he needs to go collect the key codes… meanwhile, he is still deciding whether or not to use the weapon to finish off the Reploids once in for all.  Zero et all gets wind of this.  He and Dr. Sky still disagree about X while Doyle lurks around all evil like and stuff.  What side IS Aya on?! *_* and, honestly, does Wily have a simple minded plan or does he just want people to think he's got a simple minded plan?  Meow!  Expect update next week.  Thanks again!  


	18. Cry

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 18: Cry**

"Ahem… I'd like a hot fudge sundae."

The clerk behind the counter locked his eyes on Zero, slightly confused by the order.  "Did I hear you correctly, commander?  You want a hot fudge sundae… for breakfast?"

"Yes."  Zero leaned against the counter, suddenly feeling a little more assertive.  "Hot fudge sundae."  

"Right!"  The clerk turned and started preparing the order.  It was early in the morning, 6am to be exact, so only several other early birds were having breakfast.  Zero purposely arrived early to avoid the crowd.

_"I always have one of these when I'm depressed."  X said brightly as he ate another spoonful.  "It's called a hot fudge sundae."_

"Hi!  I'd like twenty orders of breakfast A, please!"  Zero heard Dr. Sky's voice announce.  Zero and the clerk's eyes simultaneously went wide.

"Twenty?"  The clerk's eyes went even wider when he saw Dr. Sky, who looked quite small standing next to Zero.  "Are you sure?" 

"Oh!  I mean twenty-one!  I'm hungry, too."  Zero lowered his brow, then leaned slightly back to see the neatly lined up row of assistant bots looking up at their creator.  The clerk, who couldn't see any of the assistant bots, turned and continued to prepare the sundae, muttering something about "one of those days" as he worked.  

Dr. Sky and Zero exchanged awkward glances, each remembering the exchange they had the night before about X.  Zero stormed off before she could say anything else to him.  The assistant bots glanced curiously between the two as they stood in complete silence.  

"Here's your hot fudge sundae, sir."  The clerk put the sundae on the counter.  It was Dr. Sky's turn to stare at Zero, as he quickly grabbed the dessert and walked to an empty table.  The clerk turned his attention to Dr. Sky.  "The twenty-one breakfasts will be 105 credits."  She stumbled a bit as she heard the amount, and the clerk continued.  "Since you don't work here, we don't have an account for you, so…."

"Oh dear..."  She scratched the back of her head.  "I totally forgot about credit.  Um… anyone of you guys have any credits on you?"  She looked hopefully at the assistant bots, who all shook their heads.  "Uh… maybe you should cancel those orders…"  

Zero suddenly appeared back in front of the counter, having watched the exchange from his table.

"Just put it on my account."  He quickly said to the clerk, and started back to his table again, before Dr. Sky could thank him.  The clerk started handing Dr. Sky platters of breakfasts, which she handed off to the assistant bots.  He looked a little relieved when he realized she wasn't eating all of those breakfasts by herself.  The assistant bots, lead by Evariste, headed off to join Zero at his table.  The red hunter did not have time to protest before his table was crowed by the little robots.  He sighed and continued eating his sundae.  There was something strangely therapeutic about being surrounded by these little guys and eating the sundae.  They were all quite happy, enjoying the breakfast, even the questionable oatmeal.  He hadn't felt this peaceful since the last time they sat together like this, when he was still staying at Dr. Sky's lab.

_Zero sat alone inside the greenhouse, his gaze lost at the artificial sunset.  Something bounced off his back, knocking him out of his trance.  Upon turning around, he saw of Dr. Sky's assistant bots picking up a rubber ball only slightly smaller than himself off the ground.  The assistant bot headed towards Zero, with a playful look on his face.  _

_Zero turned back around and hoped the bot would leave him alone.  He'd had enough optimism and cheerfulness from that scientist, but the bot did not leave him alone.  Instead, he sat down next to Zero to watch the sunset._

_"You know, I had a friend who liked to play sports, too."  Zero spoke.  The assistant bot beeped a reply.  "No, he hated to compete; he didn't like to keep scores."  Several more assistant appeared, probably to see why the first one did not return, and joined in the sun gazing.  Soon, all twenty of them sat down, and urged Zero to continue talking about his friend.  _

_"He's a great fighter, but he really hates to fight."  Zero smiled just a bit as he thought about X.  "Pretty useless, if you ask me.  Heh."  _

The strange thing about feelings is that it's an erratic quality.  Sometimes when you're feeling very peaceful, you remember the most painful things.  Evariste, who sat across from Zero, looked up from his food and saw something rolling down Zero's cheek.  The spoon Zero was holding clinked against the glass bowl as his hand shook.  When Dr. Sky arrived at the table, she also noticed something was wrong with Zero.  

"Um…"  She set down her meal tray and walked to Zero's side of the table.  "Zero?"  He quickly stood up and rushed out of the room.  "You guys be good and eat your breakfast, I'm going after him."  She followed Zero out the cafeteria, but he was already out of sight by the time she reached the hallway.  Something else caught her eye, though… a familiar looking Reploid was being lead down the hallway, his hand in handcuffs in front.  The Reploid also seemed to recognize her, and nervously turned his face away.

"Hey…"  Dr. Sky said suspiciously as she approached the familiar looking Reploid.  "I've seen you before..."  Something clicked in her head as she recalled where she saw this Reploid.  "You're soup guy!"

"What?!"  The Reploid nervously looked around.  "I don't know what you're talking about."  He glanced at the hunter leading him down the hallway, silently pleading he would walk faster.

"You spilled soup on yourself!  At the Maverick base, when I was trying to escape!"  She rushed up to him, her excitement brewing.  "Were you at the base when it was destroyed?!  How come you're still alive?"  

"Uh…"  The Reploid looked around again.  

"TALK!"  She demanded.

"Miss," said the Hunter leading the Maverick, "I don't think this is the appropriate place for interrogations." 

"Just tell me!"  She ignored the Hunter.  "Was X there?  Did he destroy the base?"  The Maverick was still for a moment, then nodded slowly.

"Yes… he killed everyone…after he got the data from the computers."

"So how come you're still alive?!"  She continued.  Even the Hunter was interested now, and did not ask her to stop the impromptu interrogation.  

"I… hid…"  He lowered his head, looking ashamed of something.  "He killed everyone while I was hiding."

"You said data from the computers."  Her voice was a little calmer now.  "What data?"

"The Mavericks have been building…a new weapon."  The Maverick swallowed.  "All of our conventional ones are no good anymore for attacks aimed at underground locations.  So we built a new one."

"Doyle was a part of this?"  She half whispered to herself.  The next thing she knew, the Maverick had knocked down the Hunter guard, grabbed the light gun from the Hunter's pocket and had it trained right between her eyes.  His eyes were plastered with fear and desperation.

"He'll kill me!  He'll kill me!"  He screamed as he waved the gun at Dr. Sky.  A green flash blinded her momentarily.  When she opened her eyes again, the Maverick was on his knees, blood and oil running from a large gash in his torso.  She quickly stepped backwards as the Maverick fell all the way down, broken in two pieces.  A green energy beam appeared again and speared the head of the Maverick.  Looking up from the bloody mess, she saw Doyle as he pulled his light baton from the body.  

"Why…"  She whispered.

"He was about to kill you."  He said matter-of-factly as he deactivated his baton.  "I was only doing my job."

"He was about to implicate you."  She narrowed her eyes.  "You made sure you destroyed his memory banks so his data couldn't be used against you, right?  He was already dead, but you had to make sure he wouldn't be a nuisance." 

"Think what you want."  He smiled at her.  "I would clean up, if I were you.  When stains set in, it's impossible to get out."  She looked at herself, realizing for the first time that the Maverick's blood was splattered on her white lab coat.  Several other hunters came up to her and asked if she was alright as Doyle walked away.  

----------------------------

X grasped the computer chips in his hands.  Before he destroyed the Maverick base, he extracted some interesting information.  Killing the Mavericks one by one would take too long.  Two would be built for everyone one he deactivated.  This new weapon the Mavericks developed would do the job nicely.  

He smiled.

Then he frowned again.

_Did I actually enjoy that thought?  He shook his head. _

_"Something kept you from this simplistically idiotic method before…  What changed?"_

"This is the right thing."  X said to himself.  His thoughts drifted back.  

_"Mommy, mommy!"  A child screamed as she started to push away the rubble burying her mother.  X approached the child, unsure if anything he could say would make her feel better.  He was sure her mother was dead, but started to help her remove the rubble anyway.  _

_She cried in his arms when they found her mother, barely recognizable after half a ton of cement fell on her.   _

_Mavericks._

_Another memory.  Zero stood across the room from him, his sword drawn.  Words were definitely insufficient now.  _

_Reploids._

"Sir, did you want anything else?"  X put the chips away and smiled at the waitress.

"No, I'm good."  X put down some money and got up to leave.  The waitress picked up the money and headed for the register.  The waitress standing behind the cash register stared after X as he left the restaurant, then turned to the first waitress.

"Wasn't that the famous Maverick Hunter, X?"  The second waitress leaned over the counter.

"I don't know."  The first waitress handed the money over the other.  "He's weird, though.  Just sat down, ordered a hot fudge sundae and let the thing melt.  He didn't touch it at all."  She motioned back to the table where X was sitting.  "I think he might have been crying, too."

"Oh no!"  The second waitress gasped and looked out the window to take another look at X.  "A cutie like him?  Cry?  Someone must have broken his heart!"

"Or maybe he broke someone else's heart."  The two waitresses sighed.

"Or maybe you two should get back to work."  The two waitresses stiffened as they heard their manager's voice.  The manager looked on as her two waitresses suddenly saw some tables that needed assistance and rushed away from the cash register.

As soon as X was out of the restaurant, the tears returned.  He hated himself.

"Mister, why are you cryin'?"  A young girl looked up at X, and he wiped his tears away as best he could before wearing a smile again. 

"Because I'm sad, but don't worry, I won't be sad for long."  He was still smiling, but the tears kept falling.  She looked at him thoughtfully, then pulled a lollypop out from her pocket.

"Here," she said as she offered the candy to X, "you should have this.  It cheers me up."

"No… Thank you, but it's much more than I deserve."

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	19. Hate

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 19: Hate**

"Zero… I saw you run in your room…"  Aya said playfully as she knocked on the door to Zero's quarters.  "Now come on out."  She waited for several seconds, but did not hear a reply.  "Stop being stupid, open the door."  More silence.  "I've got more information on X and his problem…"  This time, she didn't have to wait.  Zero's doors opened and a hand pulled her inside.

"What is it?"  Zero asked before the doors finished closing.  "What did you find?"

"I thought that would get your attention."  Aya winked, but Zero seemed to be getting impatient.  "Anyway, I stumbled upon a site on my own investigation… you'll never guess who was there!"

Just then, the door to Zero's quarters opened again, and there stood Dr. Sky, with blood splattered over her lab coat.  "Zero…"  She gasped for breath as she tried to speak.  Zero rushed over and started to pat her down, looking for her wounds.  Dumbfounded, she stood there, eyes wide, for a moment, before sending Zero face first to the floor with a punch.  "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"  She screamed, blushing madly at the embarrassment.  

Aya cleared her throat, catching Dr. Sky's attention.  The Reploid pointed to Dr. Sky's lab coat.  She checked herself and remembered she got splattered by blood.  A different kind of embarrassment took over, and she started to help Zero up.

"Sorry, Zero… I forgot about that."  Dr. Sky led Zero to the sofa.  "Are you okay?"  Zero still had one eye closed as he rubbed the bump on his head.  

"Wow, you pack quite a punch, so I guess you're okay."  Zero chuckled.  "What happened to you?"

She quickly explained what happened with the mavericks and with Doyle to the two hunters.  When she finished her story, she thought about something.  "Aya, how much do you know about Doyle?  He's your commander, so…"

"I'm a likely suspect, yes."  She nodded.  "The thing is, he doesn't think very much of me."  She grinned in a silly manner and scratched her head.  "He thinks I'm kind of a slacker, so he doesn't include me on any important jobs…  Anyway, as I was just telling Zero before you arrived, I found something interesting you should see!  She pulled a data chip from her pocket and waved it in the air.  "Ready?"  She approached the video monitor and placed the ship in the receptor slot.  

Zero flinched as X's back appeared on the monitor.  While the quality of the video was poor, he was sure that the person on the screen was indeed X. 

"So you've found these new chips… what will you do with them?"  Dr. Light's voice could be heard.  X turned around to face the screen, an indifferent expression on his face.  

"I'm going to find the rest and use the new weapon."  The X buster came into view.  "So I don't need your help anymore, Dr. Wily."  

Wily's cackle echoed in the room.  "Don't need me?  You're funny, X."

X's eyes flickered with hatred that Zero has never seen before.  "Just being in the same room with you makes me sick."  Wily started to laugh, louder and louder.  X took several steps backward, shaking his head.  The video ended with a bright burst from the X-buster.  

"Where did you say you got this?"  Dr. Sky asked.  

"At the remains of what I guess is the temporary lair of Dr. Wily."  Aya Answered thoughtfully.  "And when I say remains, I mean it.  The place was totaled, even considering it could've been a dump to begin with."  Aya shook her head.  "My guess is that X destroyed the lab."

"How did you find the place?"  Zero asked.  "And where exactly did you extract this data from?"

"Half the place was a smoking crater, so it wasn't that hard to find."  She rolled her eyes slightly to the side as she spoke.  _Fib.  She thought to herself.  "The data was what I could extract from the little remaining circuit boards.  It took most of last night to do it."_

"So..."  Dr. Sky waved her hands slightly.  "That's it for Wily?  He's dead?"

"Probably not."  Zero sighed.  "He's still a part of my programming, remember?  Even without that, he's probably found a way to escape getting deleted by X."

"Aya, you haven't shown this to anyone else, have you?"  Dr. Sky looked anxious about something.

"No, I haven't."

"Good."  Said Dr. Sky as the other two looked curiously at her.  "This clip alone is not enough to prove the guilt or innocence of X."  She turned her attention to Zero. "We'll debate that one later, but one thing is certain: if we turn this over to another team working on the investigation, most likely Doyle would find out.  We can't let Doyle know about this, or he could get in our way even more."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  Aya asked.  Dr. Sky responded with an affirmative nod.  The female Reploid smiled.  "So you want to go after the other chips, too."

"If we had one of the chips, X would come to us…"  Zero rubbed his chin.  "So where do we find these other chips?" 

Aya smiled, even more mysteriously and placed a data pad on the coffee table.  "This is an unofficial log of Doyle's whereabouts for the last three months."  Before Aya even finished her sentence, Dr. Sky started to ask something, but Aya held up a hand to stop her.  "I'll explain when it's relevant.  The codes could be at any one of these locations, but these couple here."  She rearranged the list by pressing her finger on the screen.  "He visits these ones very frequently.  Among them, is the base where I found you, Dr. Sky.  From what you have just told me about X stealing one of the codes from that base, we can assume that the other chips at least among some of bases he visits most."

"Is there any other way to narrow them down some more?"  Zero studied the list carefully.  

"Not really."  Aya shook her head.  Dr. Sky still looked skeptically at Aya.  "Just… pick one."

"How about this one."  Dr. Sky highlighted one of the names on the list.  "This was the Natural History Museum, right?  I've been there several times, so I know the layout of the place… ooo and from your scans, it looks like the air filtration systems are still working!  I don't even need my environment suit for this one."

"You're not thinking of going!"  Zero stood up.  "It's dangerous!"

"Hey, you're not the only one who can spring back to life."  Dr. Sky said sarcastically.  "Besides, if it's really that dangerous, you could deal with the Mavericks while I get the code key."  

"She's got a point."  Aya nodded.  "We can't go and recruit new people, so what you see is what you get."

Zero sighed.  "This is why I hate unofficial ops.  Look, I can do this by myself."

"I'm not saying you can't!"  Dr. Sky continued to argue.  "I just want to help!  And you're not going to leave me alone here with _Doyle are you?  I mean, he's already killed one guy, who knows when I might have a convenient accident?"_

With his arms crossed in front of him, Zero finally nodded in agreement.

"Great."  Aya smiled.  "I've already arranged for transport."

_How does she do that?  Dr. Sky tried to contain her suspicions to herself.  __After we get back, I've got a few more questions for her…_

----------------------------------------

X walked past the display for the Triceratops.  It was easy enough breaking down the weak defenses to get into this place.  _Maybe I didn't need Wily to begin with.  He thought to himself.  He was getting close.  Large elaborately decorated double doors stood between him and the final exhibit room of the Museum.  __The main computers must be inside this room.  _

The doors slowly opened towards him with a loud whine.  They were the old fashioned types that did not slide sideways.  X stepped backwards, slightly surprised the doors started to move on their own accord.  _Looks like they know I'm here.  _

X looked up at the high vaulted ceiling of the circular room as he entered.  In the center of the rotunda were the remains of a fossil display.  The bones were lying in a pile in the center.  There were no computer screens visible immediately, which was strange, if this was indeed the mainframe room.  The lighting of the room was very dim…

"Ready?"  Zero now stood atop of the fossil pile.  

"Zero?"  X said, awestruck.

"I've already taken care of things here."  Zero approached X.  "I was hoping you would drop by for the code key.  What were you going to use the code for, X?  Have you moved onto mass murders now?"

"You still don't understand, do you?"  X tried to set his face to match Zero's steel expression, but the arrival of his friend caught him off guard.  "I don't enjoy doing this."

"Sure you do."  Zero pointed his hand at X.  "Did you know that you had a smile on your face walking in here?"  Zero saw X pull back slightly.  "Didn't even notice, did you?  Weren't you excited when you killed those Reploids guarding this place?"

"No..."  His wide green eyes were fixed directly on Zero, who now stood several feet away.  "No, I wasn't… I couldn't…"

"But you were."  Zero shook his head, eyes dark with disappointment.  "You've gone Maverick and you still haven't admitted it… I was wrong about you."

X looked down at his hands, trace splatters of blood covered his gun arm.  "I couldn't have."  X shook his head.  "No…"  

_Ha ha ha ha ha…  A maniac's laughter filled X's head, it took him a moment to recognize it as his own.  __They were so funny!  So funny!  He grasped the sides of his head and fell his knees.  __Were you looking, X?  _

"You're nothing but a monster."  Zero leaned over to X and pointed his buster at X's head.  "You are the one that doesn't deserve to live."  

X looked up at Zero, but noticed a curious beam of light behind the red hunter.  It was barely noticeable.  He wouldn't have seen it at all if not for the specks of dust that sparkled under the different illumination.  

_Lighting?_

"Zero…"  X whispered, slightly more composed.  "You meant it?  When I asked you to take care of me if I… became a maverick… that day, when I was flying back from Final Weapon… you said yes… didn't you?"

"Of course X."  Zero kept his buster pointed at X.  "Now I'll keep that promise."  Before Zero could fire his buster, X leapt up and knocked Zero off his feet.  A blue light emanated from X's buster arm as he charged his buster.  

"You're not Zero."  X's expressionless eyes met Zero's.  "The lighting.  The lie.  There are no monitors in this room, the lighting is dim, except for the different beams set up around this room.  This place is set up hologramatic beams, all the monitors are hidden so they wouldn't interfere.  Zero never told me he would kill me if I became a Maverick.  You are not Zero.  You are just a Maverick." Without another word, X fired, leaving a smoking crater where the false Zero laid.  X looked towards the pile of fossils, where the Maverick rolled towards.  "Futile attempt."  

The Maverick grinned, still wearing Zero's appearance.  "So you've figured out that I'm not Zero.  Looks like it will be more difficult to kill you than I thought."

"X!"  It was Zero's voice again, but from a different source.  Zero, Aya, and Dr. Sky stood at the large doorway.  Dr. Sky's eyes were wide when she saw the other Zero lurking behind X.  

"I'm out of here!"  The saluted, then teleported away.  

"Zero…"  X turned his attention to the real Zero. 

"Dr. Sky, go get the code key."  Zero said.  Dr. Sky looked around for a moment and found what seemed to be a possible interface.  She started to head for it, keeping her eye on X the entire time.  She ran her hand along the bottom edge of a mounted display and found a latch.  Pressing it, the display started to sink in, and slid away as a computer monitor and a keypad appeared.  

"The code key is mine."  X said evenly, glancing over to the computer as Dr. Sky tried to break into the system.  "Tell her to give it to me."  

"What's the matter, X?  Can't you fight?"  Zero narrowed his eyes, and drew his Z-saber.  "I brought one for you, too."  Zero brought out the Z-Saber that X had given back and tossed towards him.  "If you're going to do it, then have no regrets."  

X picked up the sword, activated it, and pointed it at Zero.  "Alright.  Have it your way."  Almost like a ballet, X and Zero engaged each other in a sword fight.  Aya watched the battle, smiling slightly.  

_I was right, this is fun to watch.  Aya thought to herself.  She looked over to Dr. Sky, who ejected a disk out of the computer and started to run back to Aya.  __Well, that was fast._

"I got it."  She announced, hoping the two would stop fighting now.  To her dismay, X started to fight more aggressively.  

"Give me the key code!"  X demanded.  Zero laughed, blocking another hit from X.  

"You're going to have to kill me first."

X swung around and aimed the saber at Zero's torso.  To his surprise, Zero did not evade or block the very basic attack.  X's saber connected, sending Zero flying down to the ground.  

"ZERO!"  Dr. Sky ran towards the wounded Hunter.  Zero tried to get up, but it made the wound bleed even faster.  "Don't move!"  She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and pressed it over the bleeding wound, but it immediately became saturated with blood.  "Oh god… Aya!"  She turned and looked helplessly at the hunter, who was looking at X with an inquisitive expression.

_"If you're going to do it, then have no regrets."  _

"Well, you did it."  Aya said plainly to X.  "You got him.  Go ahead, finish him off."  

X stepped towards Zero, but Dr. Sky flashed him an angry look.  The expression reminded him of something painful…

_"Why!"  The girl looked up angrily at X.  "Why couldn't you save my mom!" _

_"I'm sorry."  X replied.  "I didn't get here in time… I couldn't stop the building from collapsing…"_

_"I hate you, I HATE YOU!"  The girl ran away from X._

X turned his gaze to Zero, who was now unconscious.  

"I hate you."  Dr. Sky breathed and shook her head.  X staggered backwards, his head filled with voices again.  He held his hand up, trying to block something, while his other hand hovered over his chest.  

Aya reached Dr. Sky and Zero, and put a hand Dr. Sky shoulder.    
  


"The shields have been deactivated since that other Zero left."  She whispered to Dr. Sky.  "I'm going to teleport you out of here.  It'll hurt Zero tons, since he's hurt, so keep an eye on him when we arrive, okay?"  Dr. Sky nodded, and the three started to teleport away.  

"Zero.. wait!"  X's arms shot out and he ran towards the dematerializing crowd.  "I didn't…!"  They were gone.

_"I hate you."_

---------------------------------------

Chapter Sketch:  http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~cheuk/monster.png

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	20. Friendship

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 20: Friendship**

"Out of the way"

"Help me carry him to the bed!"

"He's been hit with a Z-saber slash in the abdomen."  Dr. Sky said as the medical attendants carried Zero towards the bed.  "He's bled a lot."  Aya had teleported them directly into the medical facility at HQ, which was only protocol if one of the people being teleported needed immediate medical attention.  As she watched the medical team work on Zero, she felt a hand slipping out from her side pocket.  She turned and saw Aya slip the key code chip into her own pocket.  

Dr. Sky looked with curiosity and concern at Aya, who, except for a quick glance back at Sky, kept looking forwards at the medical team.  Putting that concern to aside for the moment, she approached the medical team, but was stopped by one of the medical staff.

"It's not as bad as it looks."  The staff member told Dr. Sky.  "You got him here in time.  He should be fine."  She let out a sigh of relief at those words, and nodded.  "Why don't you two wait outside while we take care of this?"  Dr. Sky felt Aya's hand on her shoulder, and the two headed out of the medical facility together. 

"Aya…"  Dr. Sky started to ask as they entered the hallway, but stopped when she saw Signas, leader of the Maverick Hunters approach.  "Commander Signas…"

"Dr. Sky, Faith."  Signas nodded at the two, and then peered through the doorway that started to close.  "What happened to Zero?"  Dr. Sky looked downwards.  "Did you go on an unauthorized mission?"

"Yeah."  Dr. Sky looked back up at Signas, who furrowed his brow disapprovingly at the two of them.  "It was my idea.  I thought we could find X."  She glanced over at Faith, who was giving her the same look as Signas.  They didn't buy it.

"I appreciate all of your efforts for trying to find X," Signas began, "but you really shouldn't encourage Zero anymore by agreeing to go with him on these missions."  He crossed his arms in front of him.  "On the news of your return, some members immediately contacted me and asked that you be placed under house arrest…"

"Gee…"  Dr. Sky rolled her eyes.  "Let me guess the identity of these members.  Perhaps Doyle?  Possibly some of the Internal Affairs committee members who don't want this to leak to the press?"

"Well, it is kind of hard to keep this kind of thing from the press."  Aya pointed behind her, referring to Zero's injury.  "Eventually the press will put this and Commander X's disappearance together, or have the imagination to create the story from their vacant brains."

"And what do you think?"  Dr. Sky asked Signas.  

"I'm not going to lock you up, doctor."  Signas finally smiled.  "Something interesting must be going on if so many people are so worried about one seemingly harmless doctor."  Dr. Sky nodded in agreement, and then realized what Signas meant and puffed up in annoyance.  "Please don't be offended."  Signas chuckled while Aya also tried to contain her own laughter.  "What you can do for now is to train to use some light weapons, so you can help Zero the next time he goes on these unauthorized missions."  

"What… you mean…

"I know Zero won't stop looking for X even if I take away his weapons and court martial him.  Right now all I can do is to hope he can count on the people he trusts."

The doors slid open and one of the medical attendants addressed the group.

"He'll be fine."  A collective sigh came from the three of them.  "It was a nasty wound, but you guys got him here fast enough.  You can see him when the engineers finish."  Aya thanked the attendant, who walked back disappeared back through the doorway.  

"It's good that you got him back quickly this time… but you still haven't told me what happened to Zero."

"It was X."  Aya started.  "Zero and X fought… Zero wanted X to beat him."  

Dr. Sky stared at Aya with a surprised expression.  _What?... wait… now that I think about it…  Images from the battle flashed back in her mind, and she finally realized how Zero lowered his sword on purpose.  __He did throw the match.  He brought his sword, knowing X had some sort of psychological attachment to it.  Then he let X hit him…_

"He wanted X to beat him?"  Signas repeated.  "What sort of trick is that?"

"Zero could have fought X to the death, but he knew he would lose without a strategy."  Aya continued.  "They have fought before, and even when Zero was Maverick and wanted to kill X, he still lost.  Physically X is the superior fighter.  Zero knew the best and only way to win the battle is to use psychology.  That's why he gave X the Z-saber, and allowed X to wound him with it"

"He wanted to shock X back to his senses?"  Aya nodded at Dr. Sky's question.  

"From the looks of it, it worked.  That's why I could hold him off using conversation alone, just long enough for me to set up the teleporter to get us back here in one piece."  

"Maybe we should go find him before he has a change of heart."  Dr. Sky looked to Signas for approval, but the commander shook his head.

"We already sent teams to the location you teleported from, and the place was deserted.  No one was there, no one alive, anyway."

"So what do we do now?  Do we keep this from the press, too?"  Dr. Sky thought of the smug looks on the committee member's faces.  

"The press can't do much good right now, except have a field day with personal attacks at the rank and command of the Hunters."  Aya answered for Signas.  "We should take care of Zero.  The doctors must be done by now.  Let's go see him."  

"Yeah…"  She nodded, "let's go see Zero."

-----------------------------------------------

_Did you really think you wouldn't kill him one day?  X's voice echoed._

"I wasn't going to kill him."  X shook his head.  The dark room he was sitting in was empty, except for himself.  "I wasn't going to kill him."  He repeated.

_You can't lie to yourself.  I am you!  I know when you're lying to me._

"I wasn't going to kill him."  The blue hunter drew his limbs into himself, curling up tightly.  "I wasn't going to kill him."

_My, aren't we having a fun conversation.  Is that the only thing you can say?  _

"Please, just let me die.  I don't want to do this anymore."

_You do want to do this.  Why do you think I even exist?  _

"I won't do this, I won't!  You can't control me!"

------------------------------------------

"Bull's eye!"  Dr. Sky cheered as the computer relayed the location of her last shot.  She turned and looked happily at Aya, who was in the control room behind her.  The scientist raised her light gun triumphantly in the air.

"Good, that's the first shot you got on the target screen at all."  Aya said, less enthusiastically.  "Now let's try consistency, shall we?"  Dr. Sky stuck her tongue out at Aya and turned around to aim her gun again.

Since their last mission, Aya has been training Dr. Sky in the use of a light gun, so she could earn her license to carry one with her.  Today was her first day actually firing the gun.  The last several days were devoted to reading the safety protocols, the gun specifics and maintenance.  Usually that part of the course took two weeks, but Dr. Sky got so tired of that after a few days she went over the material by herself then demanded to take the permit exam on the spot.  She passed, which is why they were here today.

"Did you hear about who came back?"  Two Reploids walked into the training room and into adjacent stalls.  "Commander X!"

"I heard that too!"  The other Reploid joined in excitedly.  "If I weren't stuck here for this mandatory practice session I'd go and see what was going on!  He just walked right in, and I think he's still at the lobby!"

"Sky, Sky!  Wait."  Aya's voice came over the intercom as Dr. Sky raced out of the room.  The Hunter cursed, and then followed.  She knew where Dr. Sky was headed.  The human ran with surprising speed.  Between squeezing through Hunters standing in the center of hallways and avoiding collisions at corners, Aya still hadn't caught up with Dr. Sky.  

"What do you think you're doing here!"  Aya heard Dr. Sky's shaky voice from the lobby as she approached.  She groaned slightly when she turned the corner and saw what was going on.  Dr. Sky and X stood about ten feet away from each other, while a lot of other Reploids stood, fixated by the drama unfolding before them.  The light gun she was using for practice was still in her hand, and it was aimed right at X's head.  X stared sadly at Dr. Sky.

"I came to see Zero."  X answered, with a hint of concern in his voice.  "Is he… alive?"

"Oh, so you came to finish him off?"  Dr. Sky narrowed her eyes.  "You're not making it past me."  Several of the nearby Hunters started to move towards Dr. Sky, but X put his hand up to stop them. 

"Don't."  X said to the Hunters.  "She's not going to shoot me."  X turned back to Dr. Sky.  "I know what I've done, and even if I explain what happened to you, you probably wouldn't believe me.  I…."  X stopped and searched for the proper words.  "…I'm not the same anymore.  I'm not here to kill Zero, and I'm not here to kill you.  I'm sorry about what I did."

To Aya's relief, Dr. Sky lowered her gun and returned it to the holster at her side.  She approached X and stood inches away from him, eyes examining X intensely.

"You're sorry?!"  Dr. Sky said incredulously.  "What about that big speech you gave about killing all Reploids?  Are you sorry you said that?"

X took her hand and squeezed it lightly.  "I know I can't take back what I said to you, and I can't finish apologizing for it…"

The crowd gasped sharply when pulled her hand back and slapped X, who turned his slightly from the impact.  Dr. Sky gripped her right hand in her left.  She was probably in pain from hitting X's titanium alloy helmet, but seemed to ignore it.  

"Zero might be forgiving, but I'm not."  Dr. Sky said through her teeth.  "You can't just walk in here with that sad puppy dog eyes and expect everyone to forgive you… Or did you forget?  You just tried to kill Zero."  

"X?"  Aya heard Zero's voice from behind her.  The crowd instantly made a passageway for Zero to go to X.  "X… you're back?"

"Zero… I'm sorry."  X hung his head down.  "I…"  He started to tremble, as if reliving disturbing memories.  "I didn't mean…"  Dr. Sky stepped to the side and allowed Zero to walk up to X.  

"It's okay."  Zero put a hand on X's shoulder and smiled.  "See, I'm fine.  Welcome back."  

Aya looked away from Zero and X's reunion and saw Dr. Sky looking very concerned at Zero.  _It definitely isn't good that Zero's willing to accept X's innocence this easily.  Aya thought to herself.  __I guess we'll both be keeping a very close eye on X's every move._

----------------------------------------

"Yes, do keep a close eye on X's every move."  Doyle said through the intercom.  "While you're at it, explore possibilities about what to do with my old friend, Azria.  That is all."  Doyle leaned over and replayed the security footage of X's return.  "Looks like Azria doesn't like X very much… maybe I can use that to my advantage?"  

----------------------------------------

"The Internal Affairs Committee, or—as I affectionately call—the band of idiots have decided to clear X for duty starting next week."  Dr. Sky hit another couple of marks across the room from her.  "I can't believe they're blinding themselves to everything.  Shouldn't they at least investigate a little more?"

"The Internal Affairs Committee has always had an inflated ego."  Aya said over the intercom from the control room.  "They don't feel fit to have to answer to anyone.  It's not surprising they didn't reveal the details about the investigation to anyone.  Hey, you're getting good at this.  You hit the bull's eye the ten shots in a row.  Impressive."  Assistant bots gathered behind Aya jumped up and cheered.  Aya looked amusingly at the assistant bots.  "When did you guys get in here?"  

"Let's just say it's the anger working."  Dr. Sky fired the light gun at the target again.  "I mean, how come Zero's so… I don't know…. Trusting?"  

"You don't understand the relationship between X and Zero."  Aya sighed, half thinking about her own life.  "A Hunter lives in the short calms between battles.  If they had as much doubt in each other as you do for X, they would be wasting a lot of precious time being wary acquaintances instead of friends.  It's hard to make friend in the Hunters.  Once you've found one, and gained each other's trust, it'll be a cold day in hell before you want to lose him."

"I guess I hadn't thought of that..."  Dr. Sky set her gun down at the counter and removed the targeting goggles from her head.  "Well, let's call that a day.  Say… Aya?  I didn't ask you this before, but why did you take the key code away from me that day?"

"Hm?"  Aya walked out from the control room to join Dr. Sky.  "Did you want it back?"

"No…"  She thought about what Aya just said about Hunters and Friendship.  "Nevermind, just keep it safe, okay?"  Aya nodded.  "Come on, guys!"  Dr. Sky addressed the small crowd of assistant bots.  "Off to bed with you!  I'll see you tomorrow, Aya!"  

The rambunctious assistant bots kept her busy until she finally plugged them all back in for recharge, back at her quarters.  She closed the door to their bedroom and gazed out at the city lights.  She focused her eyes on her reflection on the window and breathed in sharply when she saw someone else's blue reflection on the window.  

"X?!"  She spun around, but the room was empty.  When she checked the window again, she didn't see anyone's reflection except her own.  A deep breath calmed her down a bit.  "I should get some sleep."  She went to the closet and pulled out her pajamas, then checked it thoroughly for any unwelcome guests.  Satisfied that there were none, she changed into her pajamas and tucked into bed.  Happily, she pulled a plush toy that one of the assistant bots, Emma, made for her during their stay here.  Naturally there were fewer things for them to do here than at their own lab, so the assistant bots took up new hobbies.  Emma took up plushie making.  

"Good night, Zero."  Dr. Sky said to the toy before she closed her eyes and tried to forget about her worries.  

Even if it's only until she wakes up.

--------------------------------------------------

_What do you think you're doing?_

_I want to fix all the damage you've done.  I want to be my old self again.  I want to get rid of you._

_It's futile you know.  _

X knew he was dreaming again.  He looked at the other, seemingly perfect, copy of himself standing across from him.  It was the part of him that wanted to destroy everything.  The change came slowly, but his other voice grew louder with every Maverick he killed.  Now he had a separate presence in his mind.  

_It's not futile.  I'm still here.  I can hold you back._

_Hold me back? One copy of X laughed loudly, his whoops of laughter pulsed through the air.  __Are you serious?  You made me, sweet X.  You want me here to do what you don't want to do.  I got this far, didn't I?  I'm already winning.  You just watch.  One of the X's turned and disappeared into the darkness surrounding them.  __Just watch.  _

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	21. Fudge

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 21: Fudge**

"Dr. Cain?  You called me?"  Dr. Cain stepped aside and gestured for Dr. Sky to enter his lab.  "Is there something you need my help on?"

"Actually, yes!"  Dr. Cain strolled over to one side of the lab pointed to three large boxes beside him.  "You can help me read these."  For a moment the younger scientist was expressionless, then a smile formed on her face.  She joined Dr. Cain next to the boxes and opened the top one.  After a moment of counting the number of digital pads inside each box, she let out a sharp laugh.

"My god, there must be at least fifty of these things in each box."  She planted an elbow on one of the boxes and shook her head in disbelief.  "What are these files on?"  Dr. Cain lifted his cane and used it to point at the boxes.  

"These are all the data files I have on the Zero Virus.  I thought you might find them a fascinating read, if you can understand them, that is."

Her smile widened.  "It will be a challenge, but I'll do my best."  She picked up a box, but let out a cough when she realized how heavy the boxes were.  "Right now, I think my main problem is lifting the boxes themselves."  

"No worries!"  Dr. Cain waived his index finger triumphantly in the air.  "I can call X to come help you.  He's still not actually on duty, so he should have plenty of free time."  At the mention of X, Dr. Sky frowned slightly.  Dr. Cain caught this and laughed.  "Are you still worried about him?"

"I just…"  She sighed, not able to really explain about her hatred for X without losing composure.  "He's…"

"Give him a chance!"  Dr. Cain patted her on the shoulder.   "He's a good boy.  Every hero is entitled to a little emotional breakdown once in awhile!  Zero is a good guy, right?"

"Uh… yeah."  She raised an eyebrow, unsure of where the conversation is going.  Now that she's spent more time with the famed scientist, she's found a stranger, wacky side of him that didn't accompany all the coffee room talk about his great work.

"You can tell a lot about a man from his friends."  Cain got serious all of a sudden.  Without further discussion, Dr. Cain picked up the intercom and called X to come to his lab.  Sky thought heavily about what Cain said.  The man is a scientific leader, that's for sure, but he also seems to have a very good grasp about the people around him.  __

_I guess he knows what he's talking about.  Dr. Sky thought to herself as she forced a smile and nodded towards X when he arrived.  __I don't want to offend him by blatantly disregarding his advice._

"Where do you want these moved to?"  X asked, hesitating slightly before approaching the two scientists.  

_Oh dear god… is he afraid of me?  Dr. Sky winced mentally.  "I just need them moved to my room, thanks."  __Guilt trip!  Guilt trip!  "I'll finish reading these by next week, Dr. Cain."  She waved goodbye to the older scientist._

"Yes, then we can finally do some serious talking about this matter!"  The older man chortled, causing Dr. Sky to wonder what the older man thought they had been talking about these last couple of days.  

Silence hung in the air as X and Dr. Sky walked down the hallway.  Dr. Sky stole several glances at X, who kept his eyes fixed directly ahead of him.  _He looked so different from before.  Dr. Sky sighed.  __Maybe I should give him a chance.  _

"Say!"  Dr. Sky announced brightly.  "Why don't I treat you and Zero to some ice cream this afternoon?"  X's eyes went wide for at the sudden outburst, and Sky's chest tightened at the thought of X's possible reaction.  Her concern ended when X smiled and nodded.

"It'll be a great chance for us to get to know each other outside of attempts at murdering each other."  X kept a slight smile on his face, and Sky stared blankly at him.  They stared at each other this way for five seconds before both bursting into laughter.  

"Okay!  How about 3 o'clock, at the arboretum?  I'll bring the ice cream and ingredients."  She smiled, relieved that her invitation went well.  "Feel free to bring your favorite topping."  

--------------------------------------

Zero got off his shift early that afternoon, having received Dr. Sky invitation earlier.  He was relieved X was finally back at HQ, but he and Aya were both worried about how some of the other Hunters would treat X.  Rumors about his actions spread throughout the hunters, sparked by the Committee hearing he called on Dr. Sky's behalf and her accusations against the B Class Hunter.  So far there were some inquisitive stares from the Hunters who did not know X, but he was most worried about how Dr. Sky would react to X's return.  _He did try to kill her.  Zero thought.  __I don't expect them to become fast friends anytime soon._

So the invitation from Dr. Sky was a pleasant surprise.  The invitation said that X was invited as well.

He arrived at the arboretum several minutes early, and found that X was already there.  The arboretum was set up to preserve many of the plants that grew aboveground before the Eurasia incident.  The area they were in had some of the more common plants, so Hunters could freely enter to enjoy the artificial surroundings.  

"X!"  Zero called out to his friend, running towards X.

"Zero!"  X turned and smiled at the Red Hunter.  "You're early."  

"Yeah, I got off early.  I'm surprised that you and Dr. Sky made up so quickly."  Zero looked around, found a dry patch of grass and sat down.  

"I was surprised, too."  X sat down next to Zero, tilting his head in thought.  "She just suddenly said she was inviting us to ice cream.  Out of nowhere."   He noticed Zero holding a paper bag in his hand.  "What'd you bring?"

"Oh, this?"  Zero switched hands holding the bag and opened it to show X.  "Sky said to bring our favorite toppings, so I brought sprinkles.  What did you bring?"

"Hot fudge."  X reached for a nearby thermos and handed it to Zero. 

"Hey Zero, X."  Dr. Sky called out from the entrance of the arboretum.  _Okay, now just relax when you're with X.  She thought to herself, still feeling a little strange about suddenly being so casual around X.  "I brought the ice cream!  Come on over to the picnic table!"  She started setting up the ice cream, bowls, and utensils while the hunters set down their contributions beside the ice cream.  "Did you just get off your shift, Zero?"  _

"Yep."  Zero reached for the scooper and opened up one of the cartons of ice cream.  "Chef Zero is now at your service."  He bowed exaggeratingly and then began to scoop some vanilla ice cream.  "Madame, what would you like on your bowl?  We have Hot Fudge, sprinkles, and.."  Zero looked over at the topping Dr. Sky brought.  "Chocolate chips."

"I would like just some chocolate chips, thank you, Chef Zero."  She picked up a nearby spoon.  

"Are you sure you don't want to try some hot fudge?"  X asked, sounding slightly disappointed.  "I made it myself."  

"That's okay.  Hot fudge isn't exactly my favorite."  She accepted the bowl from Zero and poked at the ice cream.  "Sorry."

"Alright X."  Zero seemed to have acquired a French accent now.  "What would you like on your ice cream?"  X laughed at Zero's new accent, and chose to have a hearty dose of hot fudge on his ice cream.  For himself, Zero made a bowl with everything on it.  The three of them finished their ice cream as X and Zero told stories about each other.

"So this is why I am never riding a hover bike behind Zero, ever again."  X chuckled as Zero stared annoyingly at the blue hunter.  Dr. Sky laughed and patted Zero's hair. 

"I know I wouldn't want to get a mouthful of his hair, either."  She laughed.   _It's nice, seeing Zero and X being friends instead of enemies. _

"I have to go!"  Zero got up and started jogging towards the door.  "I'm already late for this meeting with my team!  Sorry to leave you both to clean up!"

"That's so like him."  X shook his head as Zero ran out the door.  "Always running off and leaving everyone else to clean up after a party."  X scooped the last bit of fudge left in his bowl and ate it, while his eyes lingered thoughtfully at the thermos he brought.  "Why don't you like hot fudge, anyway?"

"Huh?"  Sky tensed up in her chair, suddenly realizing she would have to talk to X alone again.  "No reason.  It just tastes weird to me."

"But you like chocolate chip, and that tastes practically like hot fudge." 

Dr. Sky looked at X, amazed at the expression on his face.  _If I didn't know better, I would think that he's challenging me to a fight or something.  She set down her bowl and glared back at X._

"Should I list the chemical difference between chocolate and hot fudge for you?"  Dr. Sky got up and leaned on the table, looking smugly across the picnic table at X. 

"I didn't say they weren't _chemically different."  X rolled his eyes.  "All I said was that they tasted the same."_

"They _do not taste the same."  She laughed lightly.  "First off, in the preparation for Hot Fudge, you add heavy cream, vanilla, water, and corn syrup to unsweetened and semi sweet chocolate.  Then you--" Before she could finish rattling off the preparation instructions, X suddenly got up and kissed Dr. Sky on the lips.  Frozen from the shock, she continued to stare wide-eyed at X as pulled his lips back.    _

"Doesn't that taste the same as chocolate?"  X smiled, blushing slightly as he looked mischievously at the young scientist.  It took a moment for Dr. Sky to realize that X had kissed her to make a point in their argument about hot fudge and chocolate chips.  Her face flushed with embarrassment, and she rushed out of the door, thinking about the thousands of ways to dismantle a Reploid as she ran.   

Finally she found a bathroom and rushed to a mirror.  Her face was still red from the running and the embarrassment.  "OH!  I'm going to make him sorry for embarrassing me like that!"  She growled angrily as she kicked the nearby heater.  "How DARE he embarrass me like that!"

_Then again.   She thought to herself as she pulled a paper towel from the dispenser.  __He's not a bad kisser…  She daydreamed for a moment about the boyish look X gave her right after the kiss, before hitting herself over the head.  "What the heck are you thinking?  Just yesterday you hated him!"  The water came on when she moved her hands underneath the faucet.  Gently she scrubbed the hot fudge off her face with the wet towel.  _

A sudden noise behind her caused her to jump.  In the mirror, she saw Aya standing behind her.  "Oh, sheesh, Aya, you scared me."  She pulled another paper towel to dry her hands.  "So how've you been?"  Dr. Sky turned around, but Aya just stared back expressionlessly at her.  "Aya?"  

The Hunter raised both arms and shoved Dr. Sky against the mirror, which shattered on impact.  The violent sound of crashing glass pulsed through the room as Dr. Sky slid to the ground.  By now, her vision was clouded, but she could still see the blurry outlines of Aya's hands reaching down for her…

_Damn.  I should have been more careful.  She was evil… after all._

Death's fingertips closed in on her, then the world disappeared.

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	22. Visions

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 22: ****Visions**

Aya and Alia signed in with the nurse at the front desk of the medical wing before meeting Zero and X outside of one of the patient rooms.  Aya noted one of the Doyle's closest officers standing around the corner of the corridor before exchanging a few hush words with Zero.  Aya nodded, then opened the door to the room.

Immediately Dr. Sky, who was lying in bed, pulled the sheets tight against herself, using it as a shield of some sort.  Aya nodded to Zero and X the closed the door, which unnerved Dr. Sky even more.

"Sky, I'm just going to stand over here by the door until I explain this to you."  Aya put up both her hands in the air, declaring innocence, but Dr. Sky still glared at the Hunter with great suspicion.

"I can't believe you!"  Dr. Sky yelled.  "Why did they let you in here?!  HELP!"

"Sky, I didn't do it."  Aya insisted, still standing by the door.  "I was with Alia since 2:00 o'clock until just now.  I didn't leave her sight for even a minute."  Dr. Sky's eyebrow flattened a bit in doubt.  "I have a tape from the video conferencing we did with a unit at Cove 09!  You can see it if you want!"

"So…it couldn't have been you?"  Dr. Sky lowered her sheets slightly, but her body was still tense, ready to spring away from an attack.

"No, silly!"  Aya said, before walking a little closer.  "Do you really think this innocent face would be that of a criminal?"  She smiled at Dr. Sky, then blinked in thought.  "Uh… scratch that thought.  But if you really don't think you can trust me…"  She grasped one of Dr. Sky's hands and passed her something.  "I'm giving this back to you."

The young scientist drew her hand back and found the chip that contained the key code.  "This…"  Confusion was mixed with doubt in her eyes.  "The key code?"

"I was keeping it safe for you."  Aya explained.  "When we got back, there was a very good chance Doyle would have convinced Signas to arrest you on the spot.  I couldn't let Doyle have the chip."

"So… who attacked me?" 

"First to come into mind would be one of Doyle's lackeys…"  Aya coughed.  "But the conclusion they came to was this."  She presented a plastic pouch with a small bar of soap inside.  "They think you slipped."

"Slipped!"  Dr. Sky bolted upright angrily, emphasizing her point with an index finger.  "I did _not slip!  I saw you, er, someone who looked like you, and she pushed me!"_

"I can do a bit of checking for you."  Aya patted Dr. Sky in the back.  "Don't worry, I'll figure this out.  It'll be alright.  You just concentrate on nursing that big bump on your head."

"Aya!"  Dr. Sky called as the Hunter started to go.  "You hold on to this."  She returned the key code chip and nodded.  "I'm sorry I accused you of attacking me."

"Hey, I'm more offended you think anyone could be as gorgeous as me."  Aya pocketed the chip and flashed a smile  "I'll go check on those little cherubs of yours and tell them where you are.  Stay safe, okay?"

"Okay."

"Your cheeks are a little flushed."  Aya leaned in closer.  "Do you want me to call the doctor?  You don't look too good."

"You're doing such a good job of cheering me up, thank you."  Dr. Sky rolled her eyes.  "Now go.  You should take the assistant bots to dinner."

"Sure, no problem."

"Oh."  The scientist smiled mischievously.  "Bring lots of credits."

-------------------------------------------

"Who do you suppose attacked Dr. Sky?"  Zero asked X as they walked.  

"I thought they concluded she slipped on a bar of soap."  X replied, studying Zero intently.  "Why do you think otherwise?"

"Why would she lie about being attacked?"  Zero pursed his lips.  "And if she didn't lie, she must have seen something."

"Maybe she's getting a bit stressed.  Have you _seen all the files Dr. Cain is having her read?"   X scratched his head.  "I think it would give anyone a headache.  We'll just have to keep a lookout on her."  X narrowed his eyes.  "If anyone's after her, it's probably Doyle.  He must know by now she has one of the key codes.  He must know I have several as well.  Naturally, he went for the easier target."_

"Well, the key code she has is still safe.  I'm not sure exactly how she knew, but that's what Aya said."  Zero nodded.  "We need to keep it that way, get the rest of the key codes, and find the location of the weapon.  The possible locations you gave us will be where we start."  The two entered a conference room where many of the Unit Leaders, including Doyle, waited.  Signas was sitting at the head of the table, and stood up as the two Hunters arrived.

"Gentlemen, please have a seat."  Signas began the meeting.  "The Zero Virus attacks have gotten worse since our last meeting.  Our prevention tactics doesn't seem to be working as well as we hoped."  The Leader of the Hunters paced in front of the room.  "We need a different strategy."

"Commander."  Doyle drew the attention of the room as he stood.  "My Unit has come up with something very interesting.   It seems that the Mavericks have a new weapon, designed specifically to attack underground coves…"  Doyle peered over to see the shocked expressions on X and Zero's face.

"Where did you find out about this?"  Signas sat back down at the head of the table, grasping his hands together in front of him and carefully studied Doyle.  

"It's all detailed in the report right here."  Doyle slide a data pad to the front of the table.  "There are key codes scattered about the Maverick bases, for their security reasons, we presume.  We should move as quickly as we can to retrieve these codes and find the location of the weapon."

Signas took the data pad and considered it in silence.

"What kind of plans do you have in mind, Commander Doyle?"

---------------------------------------------

"I cannot believe Signas bought that!"  Zero threw his hands in the air in frustration he and Zero left the meeting.  "Doyle is leading us on a wild goose chase for the location of the weapon." He cracked his knuckles angrily.  "He knows perfectly well where the weapon is, he's going take us to hell and back before leading us there."

"Maybe we should consider telling Signas what we know about the key codes."  X suggested, crossing his arms behind his back.  "He already knows about our suspicions about him."

"The problem is that revealing those facts would only support Doyle's report."  Zero shook his head.  "Unlike Doyle, we don't have any conveniently fabricated story about how you got your list of possible locations…"  Zero stopped.  X never explained to Signas about his actions during his absence.  That wasn't necessary.  The Internal Disciplinary committee was elated at X's return, and was even happier when X did not provide most of the details on what he did.  

Zero hadn't minded, either.  The last thing he wanted was to see X dragged off to jail for the murder of mavericks probably unfit for life anyway…  _But I had to go and say something stupid like he didn't have a convenient story…_

"What I meant to say was…"  Zero began, but X shook his head and smiled.

"I know, Zero."  X nodded supportively to his friend.  "That's not important now.  What we need to do is investigate on our own.  Find a couple of people we can trust and work on looking at our own locations."

"We should go talk with Aya and Dr. Sky on this.  Should we ask Dr. Cain for help?"  

"I don't want to get Dr. Cain in any trouble…  If we get caught, I don't think the committee will be as lenient as before."  

"Okay, then we should rely on the team we've got, and work from there."  

----------------------------------------------

"If I weren't so tired from reading these I'd go hit him right now." Dr. Sky said angrily as she put another data pad on the coffee table.  Zero, X, Aya and Dr. Sky sat around the coffee table covered by maps, plans and data pads. "He knows how bad this will look on our part if we get caught with the chips.  I'm sure he's thrilled at the prospect of us cowering under our sheets."

"We're not going to do that at all."  X pointed to a list clipped to the large map.  "Here's the list of maverick bases we can check out.  Because we don't want to raise suspicions, it has to be a covert operation.  If one of us gets caught, we can only rely on each other to come to the rescue."

"Sounds risky."  Aya leaned in, checking the list.  "Then again, I'd hate to consider the possibly of our chips landing in Doyle's hands."

"Which is exactly what would happen if we let Signas in on what we know."  Zero nodded slowly.  "Signas would want the chips, and Doyle would somehow weasel them from Signas, then we can kiss everything goodbye."

"Zero, Aya and I will go to these places and check them out.  Dr. Sky, we need you here to spot for us.  Here's the software you will need on the terminal to communicate with us."  X handed Dr. Sky a set of discs.  "We will start the first mission tomorrow night.  I've planned out how to work around our work schedules so we still have time to recharge, rest, and prepare for these missions.  Here are your new schedules."  X distributed data pads to the party.  "We should have just enough time for everything."  

"Eh?  What've you got there?"  Aya asked Emma, who was standing in the doorway to the bedroom.  In her arms was the Zero plush she made.  "Oh my, how cute!  It's a miniature Zero!"  Aya marveled at the workmanship of the doll while Dr. Sky looked at X, horrified at something.  

"Uh.. Emma made that.  She was bored.  It's nothing."  Dr. Sky fired out the explanations at a thousand miles per hour.  "It's her Zero plush!"  

X smiled, then walked over to Emma and reached for the doll.  "It's very well made, Emma."  Still holding the doll, he looked over to Dr. Sky, who was looking at something interesting on the ceiling.  "Here you go."  X returned the toy back to Emma.  "Any chance you're going to make an X plush?"  At that comment, Dr. Sky's eyes went even wider than before and she started to blush.  

Zero watched X and Dr. Sky exchange glances while Aya played with the Zero plush.  _I hadn't noticed until now… "Well, I'm going to go to bed."  Zero tugged at Aya.  "Come on, Aya.  I need you to look at something."  _

"Huh?"  Aya felt a squeeze on her arm from Zero, then noticed the way X and Dr. Sky were acting.  "Oh… yeah… let's go."  Before X or Dr. Sky could say anything, the two hunters were out the door.

"Hey!  Wait!"  Dr. Sky stammered as the door closed.  "Ugh, they left us with a mess to clean up again."  She gathered some of the data pads together on the coffee table.  "How inconsiderate of them…"  

"Well, I'm used to it."  X smiled and started to help cleaning up the coffee table.  "This copy of the map is yours.  I'll give you new maps for the bases as we go on the missions."  

Dr. Sky nodded, and rolled up the map on the table.  "Um… about the other day…"

"Hm?"  X turned his head up to look at Dr. Sky.  "Oh, about that!"  He reached for a paper bag on the sofa.  "Here, apology offerings."  She reached for the bag and opened it while X smiled.  

"Chocolate chip cookies?"  She reached inside the bag and took one out.  "Apology offerings?"

"Yeah…"  X nodded.  "You know, with the hot fudge argument…  well, _I didn't think it ended so badly."_

"No… it…"  She perked up, then beamed.  "I didn't think it ended so badly either.  But thank you."  

"I should go."  X gathered up some of the data pads then headed for the door.  "I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting."  He waved goodbye, lingered for a moment, then headed out the doorway.  

"He is cute, isn't he?"  Dr. Sky asked Emma before taking a bite of the cookies.  "Mm… these are good."  

--------------------------------------------

When X got to his quarter's doorway, he found Zero leaning by his doorway, an amused expression plastered on his face.  As X approached, Zero turned and looked at X sternly.

"You like her, don't you?"  Zero asked, putting a hand on X's shoulder

"So what if I do?"  X shrugged casually.  "Are you suddenly her big brother now?"

"You could think of me that way."  Zero smiled.  "Well, I'd approve."  The red hunter patted X on the back before leaving.  "The job to keep an eye out on her is yours.  I'll give Aya the heads up."  

_Zero, Zero.  X grinned.  __How predictable._

--------------------------------------------------

After putting away the data pads, Dr. Sky brought out a glass jar and poured the cookies she just received inside.  She closed the lid picked up the jar.  Her mind was on a particular B-class hunter when it was interrupted by a sudden cold dread.  She stood still for a moment, expecting the feeling to pass, but it waited, swirling through the air like a preying serpent.  

She turned around slowly, clutching the cookie jar for some type of protection.  She gaped at who was standing by the couch.  "Doyle!"  She dropped the cookie jar and covered her mouth.  A shard of glass sliced her leggings when it bounced.  "Gah."  Her hand clamped over the wound, reflexively, when she looked back up at Doyle, he was gone.  "What the…"  A little braver now, she grabbed a nearby chair and checked every inch of her quarters for uninvited guests.  The bathroom had a leaky faucet, the kitchen area had dirty dishes, and the assistant bots greeted her with curious stares in their bedroom.  Finally she set down the chair and sat down, looking nervously around the room.  

"I am losing it, aren't I?"  She asked herself.  She heard light, but familiar, footsteps enter the room.  "Hey guys."  Several of the assistant bots brought bandages and disinfectant solution.  "Thanks."  Emma handed her the bottle and Evariste offered cotton balls.  

_What's happening to me?  She thought helplessly.  __Why am I seeing things?_

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	23. Relative

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 23: Relative**

"Ten meters to your north should be a steel door."  Dr. Sky said into her headset as she studied the map on her table.  "There should be a key pad to the left of the door.  It's a base 16 number system, so you will need to use the digits as well as the letters to input the code."

"What is the code?"  On the other end of the line was Aya.  It was X, Zero, and Aya's first mission together into enemy territory.  The remaining member of their team, Dr. Sky, was at her quarters relaying information to them.  

"175627 in hexadecimal expansion." Dr. Sky did a bit of calculation on a scratch piece of paper.  "In base 16, the code should be 2AE0B."

"I had no idea the Mavericks would use bother using such a complicated code for one of the early doors."  Aya inputted the code.  "Hm.. it's not opening."

"But it says here in X's notes that the base for the code should be the number of wings in this building squared.  There are four wings, so it should be base 16."  Dr. Sky scratched her head.  In her headset, she could hear an alarm going off.  "Oh no! Aya!  Did you set off an alarm?"

"No… and inputting the incorrect code once shouldn't set things off either."  Aya looked over her shoulder, getting a bit more nervous.  "Are you sure we're working in that base?"

"From these notes, yes."  Quickly, she re-read the notes.  "That's what it says."

"I think I hear someone coming this way."  Aya punched in something else in the keypad.  Once again, the doors remained closed.  "Come one, this one…"  She punched in a series of 0's and 1's, and the door confirmed the code and opened.  Not wasting a second, she crossed the doorway and punched in the same code, locking the door.  

Dr. Sky waited in silence, not wanting to draw attention to Aya through her intercom.  When she heard Aya sigh in relief, she burst out with a question.  "Aya, what happened?"

"It wasn't base 16.  It was base 2."  Aya wiped her brow out of habit; something she picked up from humans.  "I tried base 15, then base 2…. Hoping they were using something between 2 and 15 as base."

"These notes must be wrong…"  

"Your apology is duly noted and accepted, Dr. Sky."  Aya smiled, then moved further inside the corridor.  "Why don't you check in on X and Zero?  I think I can survive without your assistance, at least until the next locked door."

"Okay, take care of yourself until then!"  At the press of a button, she switched lines to X.  "X, can you talk?" 

"Yes, but I might have to whisper like this when I do."  X's soft voice came over the headphones.  

"Do you need any help?"  Dr. Sky asked.  Even though she's read the manual to spotters cover to cover, she was still a little nervous at this job.  It's not that the Hunters depended on her for life and death at every moment.  What she was afraid of was that at those rare moments when one piece of information could mean success or death, she would mess up and say something wrong.  So far, she's already sent Aya in danger with the code.  

"No, I'm fine here."  The sound of paper rustling could be heard on X's end of the intercom.  "They seem to like to keep a lot of things in these old style filing systems… on paper, which makes searching through them much harder."

For a second, Dr. Sky wanted to ask X about the code to the door she and Aya dealt with earlier, but decided this wasn't the best time to point out an error on his part.  "The key code shouldn't be on paper, though.  It's not a code you can remember.  The key is the stream on the data disc, or on the copies on chips.  There'd be no way to write it down."

"Yes, but it could contain something about where the data might be stored."  

"Oh, yes…. Of course."  She scolded herself mentally.  "If you don't need anything, I'll check on Zero."  She waited for X to ask for something, and when there was only silence, she dejectedly switched to Zero's line.  _You're just full of useful information.  She took a deep breath, trying to regain her confidence, before speaking to Zero.  "Zero, how're you doing?"_

"I'm looking through these computer files… it seems that this place is nothing but a junk recycling facility for them."

"What?!"  Dr. Sky almost fell out of her chair.  "But the security was so sophisticated!  I thought for sure this place would have something.  The key code, or maybe the weapon itself!"

"No luck."  Zero punched a map of the area up.  "The building's security might be high, but you have noticed that there wasn't that many guards, right?" 

The scientist blinked several times, waiting for the fact that they wasted all night on a recycling facility to sink in.  "Well, I guess this means we pull out."

"Looks that way."  Zero shut off the computer.  "I'll be at the teleporting location in probably 10 minutes.  Have X and Aya meet me there."

"Roger." 

------------------------------------------------

"I'm sorry we spent the night digging through nothing."  X slumped his shoulders forwards.  "The building design had such sophisticated security that naturally I thought…"

"It's okay."  Zero yawned, another habit he picked up from being around humans.  "I guess this means we should take another look and include a couple more possible locations.  Maybe they keep the keys in a shoe box underneath Doyle's bed."  The girls laughed at Zero's joke, but X didn't seem to feel any better.  

"Okay, well, unlike you guys, I need a little longer than a three hour recharge."  Dr. Sky checked her watch.  "Which is now dwindling to a 2 hour and fifty nine minute recharge."

"Why do you have to wake up that early?"  X asked.  "You don't have shifts."

"Yes, but I do have to report to Dr. Cain at 5 am."  She sighed, rubbing her neck, which was sore from craning in front of the computer monitor.  "He says he does his best work before breakfast."

"Too bad."  Zero headed for the door.  "Let's let her get to bed then."  

"Speaking of breakfast."  X seemed to cheer up a bit.  "Why don't I swing by Dr. Cain's office when you're done and we can go to the cafeteria together?"  Aya and Zero slipped out the door quietly when they realized what X was asking.  "What time will you be done?"

"Oh."  She smiled, and looked sideways slightly.  "Nine o'clock."  Her eyes returned to look directly at X.  "We should be done by then."

"Okay, I'll see you then."  X turned and headed for the doorway, noting Aya and Zero peeping from the edge of the open doorway.  "Are you two still here?"  The two spies tensed up and dashed away, drawing a laugh from Dr. Sky.  

"Good night."  She called after X, who waved.

-----------------------------------------------

"Hey Zero."  Aya nudged the Red Hunter with her elbow.  "Has X changed?"

"What do you mean?"  Zero tiled his head.  "Is this about him and Dr. Sky?"

"Yes…"  Aya stared ahead as they walked.  "He just seems a little to… slick."  At her comment, Zero burst out in a round of laughter.  "What are you laughing about?"  
  


"You thought that was slick?"  Zero continued to laugh.  "That was very amateurish.  He didn't even have a lead in line to asking her out."

"That's not what I mean."  She shook her head, sighing.  "The X you knew, would he just ask someone out without at least mulling about it for awhile?  And wouldn't he ask his best friend for some kind of advice?"

"Hm…"  Zero crossed his hands behind his head, considering what she said.  "Well, yes, he probably would have made a bigger fuss about it…"

"He hasn't asked you for advice about approaching her, right?"  Aya looked back at Zero, who had a thoughtful expression on his face.  

"No, he hasn't."  Zero shook his head.  "He's learning!"  He winked at Aya.  "From the best, you know?"

"It's just… well…  when did he have time to learn this from you?  The X I knew before Eurasia wasn't like this… at least from reputation, anyway.  Between the time you got back and now, he hasn't had much of an opportunity to do so, has he?"

"I know him a lot longer than you have, Aya.  He's just gotten a little more confidence, that's all."

"Isn't it strange he started to like Dr. Sky so quickly?  They haven't exactly spent too much quality time together since they met."

"I see where this is going…."  Zero narrowed his eyes as a smile grew on his face.  "_You like X, don't you?"_

"What?!"  Aya pushed Zero away, sending him to the other wall of the corridor.  "I do not!"

"Heh heh, ow…"  Zero rubbed his arm.  "I'm just kidding with you.  I know you don't feel that way about X, but you do consider yourself a big sister to Dr. Sky, right?"  The other hunter confirmed by nodding.  "I feel the same way.  Don't worry.  X is a nice guy."

"I guess you're right."  Aya stretched her arms.  "Let's get to the recharge bay.  We'll need the quicker recharge there if we hope to make the morning shift." 

------------------------------------------------- 

"And so…"  Dr. Cain explained as he finished an equation on the board.  "That is how we find the reference ratio for these three things."  He glanced over at where Dr. Sky was sitting.  After she finished copying down the equation, she leaned her head on her notebook and sighed comically.  

"I think I need to surgically implant these ideas in my head."  She whined.  "I haven't seen this many equations since… since…EVER!"  The door to Dr. Cain's lab swished open and in walked X.

"What happened to her?"  X asked, then looked over at the dry erase board.  "Ah.  Never mind."

"Save me, X."  She reached for him melodramatically.  "Save me from these equations!"

To her reaction, Dr. Cain laughed again, leaning against his cane in her direction.  "You just have to keep all these things in mind when you're analyzing the virus!  Otherwise you're only looking at it superficially."

"No wonder I've gotten nowhere in the research."  She started packing up her things.  "Can we call it a day for now?"

"Yes, of course.  But you really should look into the sciences other than your own field more than just on the surface."

"Yes Dr. Cain."  She made a face to X at Dr. Cain's comment while her back was to the older scientist.  

"And I saw that."  Dr. Cain laughed again.  "Just like a junior high student."  Embarassed that she got caught, she grabbed X's arm and dashed out of the room, calling out a hasty good bye before the door closed.  

"How did the session go?"  X asked as the two headed for the elevator not far from them.  "You look really tired."

"There were equations everywhere!"  She sighed, resting her head against his shoulder.  "It was horrible."

"But I thought you liked science."  X raised an eyebrow.

"Only when I get to pick what I need to learn and what I don't."  Two hunters waiting at the elevator looked at X and Dr. Sky with amusement.  Dr. Sky blinked, wondering what was so interesting, but soon realized she was grabbing onto X's arm and leaning against his shoulder.  As inconspicuously as she could, she slipped her arm away.  

On the rest of the way to the cafeteria, X told Dr. Sky about how he joined the Hunters and certain interesting missions he's been on.  X finished his story about the maverick who thought he locked himself inside a bank before going to the line to order for them.  

"There you go, mushroom omelets with some potatoes on the side."  X set the tray on the table before sitting down.  "Here's your coffee."

"Thanks."  She reached for the coffee and eagerly took a sip.  "Ah… liquid sunshine"  

"So I've told you about myself, how it's your turn."  X took a bite of scrambled eggs and pointed his fork across the table to her.  "I don't know much about you."  
  


"Well, there's not too much to tell."  She sipped her coffee.  "I lived with my parents, who were research scientists.  When Dr. Cain started building Reploids, I got a sister of sorts, named Allison.  Not too long after that, she murdered my parents, tried to steal their research, and is now moonlighting as Commander Doyle."

"Did you like Allison?"  X asked.  "I don't think I've ever had a sibling… then again, I don't remember much."

"Yeah."  Her eyes wandered slightly as she thought of the past.  "I didn't have a sister until Allison joined our family.  She was fantastic!  I taught her how to ditch lessons, but she'd in turn teach me all the material I missed that day.  She was…"  Dr. Sky froze at the sight of a Reploid across the room.  _I don't believe my eyes… Allison?!  Allison had her eyes locked onto Dr. Sky as she slowly approached.  _

"How?"  Dr. Sky's heart started to race faster as her sister approached, and finally stood directly behind X.  

"Dr. Sky?  What's wrong?"  A faint trace of X's words registered in her mind, but she never took her eyes off her estranged sibling.  Allison bared her teeth in a cruel smile, and that was enough to set Dr. Sky off.  In one swift move, she grabbed X's knife, leapt across the table over X and plunged the knife into her sister's throat.  

"My god… what's she doing?!"  Screams filled the room, filling the previous dull vacuum she was just in moments ago.  Two Reploids pulled her off the body, which now she realized looked nothing like Allison.

"What've I….done?"  Dr. Sky looked back at X, who started first at the Reploid lying motionlessly on the ground, then turned his head slowly to look at her.  Her heart sunk when she saw the cold expression on his face.  A smile crept slowly to his face as she was dragged away by the two Reploids.  

"It was you!"  She struggled against the Reploids, pointing an finger at X.  "It was YOU all along!  You just came back to hurt us all!  LET GO OF ME!  It's HIM!  He's still EVIL!  LET GO OF ME!"  She bent her knees, trying to shake out of their grip.  "SOMEONE GO TELL ZERO!"

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	24. Situation

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 24: Situation**

Dr. Sky twirled her finger while waiting for Zero to show up.  Since they dragged her off kicking and screaming from the cafeteria, she's calmed down significantly, but the guard standing by the door still looked at her with suspicion.  _I don't blame him.  She thought to herself, looking sheepishly at the guard. __ It did take me…oh… two hours to stop yelling…  _

She examined the visiting room she was sitting in.  It was divided by a sturdy looking pane of glass; one side for the visitor, and one side for the prisoner.  Each half looked the same, with a table, a chair, and a guard outside the door, observing through a window.  Not the happiest looking place in the world, but the expectation of seeing her friends made even this dank, cold place seem cheery.

Her face brightened when Zero was escorted in the room.  Zero sat down, took a deep breath, unsure of what to say to her.  Luckily for him, she broke the silence.

"How's X?"  Zero raised an eyebrow to her question.  "I know I said some really awful things about him… you've probably heard."  She leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment.  "I didn't mean it… well," she chuckled, "I probably did mean it at the time, but I think I'm losing it."  She smiled but in seconds her lips started to tremble.  "Sometimes I feel everyone's trying to kill me."

Zero, who spends most of his time with other Hunters, was not accustomed to consoling individuals crying in front of him.  Even when someone does cry, he sends X or Alia in to do the job.  "X is outside, actually.  He wants to talk to you, but we both thought it would be best if I talked to you first."  He paused for a moment while Dr. Sky wiped her eyes on her sleeve.  "The Reploid you attacked is going to live."

"Yeah, I heard.  Apparently it was only a really messy wound, not really a life threatening one…but they're still going to charge me with assault."  

"Don't even worry about that."  He assured her.  "Aya said she's going to defend you herself.  She's already checked out most of the law library for case history."

"Thanks."  She wiped her eyes and returned a weak smile.  "Um, could you send X in? I need to talk to him."

"Sure."  Zero got the guard's attention and the door opened with a loud buzz.  Seconds after Zero walked out, X entered, looking hesitantly at Dr. Sky.  She got to her feet and gestured at the chair on the visitor's side.  The Blue Hunter nodded, then sat down.

"Now, X, I just want to apologize for the things I said in the cafeteria."  She paced around her side of the room as she explained.  "I think the stress might have gotten to me a little.  I'm sorry."

X blinked, visibly surprised by her apology.   "It's okay.  But right now we should worry about your defense at the trial.  Aya's going to lead it, but it's not going to be pleasant…the prosecution has a lot of witnesses lined up, including some people who saw you…er… our conversation the night I came back."  He sighed.  "They're going to label you mentally unstable."  

"Is that why I get my own cell?"  She joked, but X didn't laugh, and continued to look at her sadly.  "No, you should worry about finding the rest of those chips.  You guys are going to be fine without me, right?"

"Well, we'll just wander around blind throughout the Maverick bases and hope we don't run into trouble.  Don't worry, we'll be fine.  Oh!  Zero made you cookies, it's being scanned right now by security, you should get them sometime tomorrow morning."

"He didn't mention it, but tell him thank you for me."  __

"Aya wants to talk to you too, she's right outside."  X got up.  "You take care, okay?  Your next scheduled visiting hours is in three days.  We'll drop by then to give you the FYI."  Light streamed into the room as the door on the visitor side opened.  Aya entered, nodding to X as he left.

"I always knew you were crazy."  Aya grinned, shaking her head casually as she sat down.  "But I hadn't realized how nutty you really were.  What made you start screaming about X anyway?"

"He had this look on his face."  Sky stared distantly, picturing the smile X gave her in the cafeteria as they dragged her off.  She wrapped her arms around herself.  "Like he was… He looked crazier in that moment, than when he told me about killing all the Reploids in the world.  I know didn't imagine that.  X is up to something"

"So, why did you tell Zero you were losing it?"

"I think you've already guessed, since you don't look a bit surprised.  Something is still wrong with X.  I don't have anything right now to prove it, so telling Zero would only alienate the possibility completely from his mind.  You've seen how he is when he's defending X."

"So instead of warning him, you're going to ask me to keep an eye on him.  Hmmm…"  Aya considered the situation.  "I can do that.  But really, what do you think is wrong with you?  You did mistake that Reploid for your own sister.  They look nothing alike."

"I don't know.  Stress has never been a factor like this before.  When they brought me in they tested a blood sample from me, but it came back negative for known substances.  So I couldn't tell you."  She plopped down into the chair.  "Despite that, keep a watch out on X anyway, will you?"

"I can do a little digging around for you.  Maybe it's something you ate."  Aya tapped her fingers on the table, searching for some other possibilities.  "Are you allergic to anything?"

"Actually, I am, but I haven't eaten any of the things I'm allergic to in a long time.  Heh, not since Zero accidentally put poppy seeds in my soup!  Dork."  She crossed her arms in front of her, and made a comic angry face.  "He didn't know at the time, of course, but I made sure he wouldn't forget!  You can get the full list from one of the assistant bots."

"Okay.  Until the next time I see you, sit tight!"

-----------------------------

"Hey, kiddies!  Time for lunch!"  Aya announced as she rang the doorbell on Dr. Sky's quarters.  Evariste opened the door, and the other assistant bots in sight lined up behind him in two rows, ready to go to the cafeteria.  One of the lines was shorter than the other, though.  Aya looked through the line and saw who was missing.  "Wait here."  She found the missing assistant bot reaching inside a garbage can near the back of the living room.  "James, what are you doing?   Cookies?  From the garbage?  Ewww."  Peeking inside, she saw cookies and the pieces of a broken jar.  "What happened here?"  

James started to explain about the occurrence of the other night.  Aya nodded as James spoke in binary, gesturing the sounds and actions with his arms.  Noticing the show going on in the back of the room, some of the other assistant bots gathered behind James, while the rest joined James, each giving their best impression of what Dr. Sky was doing.  

"Hm…  she just freaked out, you say?"  The bots nodded in unison.  "James, can you get me a plastic bag?"  James rushed to the bathroom and returned with the requested item.  "Thanks.  Now let's go… fishing."  She flipped the bag inside out, retrieved a cookie, and flipped the bag right side out.  "Okay, everyone, let's go visit Uncle Mel at the lab before lunch, okay?  I have to drop off something…"  

-----------------------------

After dropping off the assistant bots to Dr. Sky's quarters following their expensive--but quite entertaining--lunch, she gathered the necessary equipment for their mission tonight.  There was just enough time to get everything ready before they were to meet at the hanger.  Since this mission is supposed to be secret, they couldn't just teleport to their locations.  Driving would be involved, so they had to leave before sunset to arrive before midnight.

The com device on her desk rang as she was cleaning her rifle.  Curious as to who was calling, she set the rifle out of view and sat down at the desk.  A face appeared when she pressed the answer button on the keypad.  

"Dr. Wily?"  Aya stared with mild surprise.  "I can't believe you're calling me at work, where they'll most certainly try to trace the call."

"Let me worry about that, Aya, I've taken measures against that already."  Dr. Wily grinned, quite satisfied with his abilities to give security the run around.  "Our call is completely secure from intruders."  

"Why are you calling me, of all people?  Shouldn't you be more interested in talking with X or Zero?"

"Once again, you ask a question to which you already know the answer."  Wily laughed.  "You should be most interested in my latest offer."

"Your offer didn't entice me last time.  What've you got this time?"

"I am willing to give you all the data I have on the Zero Virus I have…"  Wily paused for dramatic effect.  "Along with all the new data I have on the new strand Doyle has created."

"Well, that is a generous offer, but what do you want in return?"  

"I think you already know."

"The key codes."

Wily grinned, nodding affirmatively.

"It's a deal, Wily."  Aya smiled.  "I will get you all the key codes, if you send me the files immediately."  A window opened on the screen, indicating a file transfer in progress.  Within seconds, the transfer was finished.  The Hunter opened up several of the files and looked at them with satisfaction.

"I trust everything is in order?"  Wily asked.  Aya nodded slowly, slightly concerned about why Wily was being so compliant.  "Then I will take my leave.  I will contact you again, soon, to check up on you and on the progress of the key code's retrieval."  

"Just a second, Wily."  Aya turned her attention back to the scientist.  "Tell me, are you still influencing X?" 

To that question, Wily simply smiled.  "I think I've been very generous with my information already.  The answer to that will have to wait until you bring me the key codes."  The call window went blank again.  Aya let out a breath of frustration before sifting through the files Wily just sent.  The informal was much too technical to just skim, but it was all there.  "Well, this is just going to have to wait for later."  Aya closed the files and locked it, still wondering what game Wily was playing.

-----------------------------

X, Zero and Aya left for another one of their targets after X's last shift ended later that afternoon, and drove on air bikes for the next several hours to their target.  This time, the target was an old amusement park.  Most of the structures were still intact; the amusement park was far enough away from the impact point of Eurasia that it was only partially buried in sand.  The Ferris wheel and roller coaster tracks reached out from under the sand… a glimpse of the past.

"The Mavericks made themselves a base in the underground tunnels and rooms beneath this place, which the employees used to get around the park."  X explained.  The three of them stood at the entrance way.  X held a map for the other two to see as he drew out the plan.  "The tunnels have entrances at these areas marked in red; we might have to dig a little to get inside, but it shouldn't be a problem since the sand is at most twenty feet deep."  Aya gave him a questioning stare, but X continued.  "We'll start here, here and here.  I'll take this entrance, Aya, you take this one, and Zero you will go in the remaining one.  We'll search in a standard C5 pattern until we find something, or confirm there's nothing here worth our time."

"We'll stay in contact with this encryption frequency."  Zero displayed the setting on his headset.  "Try to keep it minimal, though.  This will be much more difficult now that we don't have a spotter, so we'll have to watch out for each other.  To keep each other's location in check, we'll connect our radios every two minutes.  If you see someone heading in the direction of one of us, you should give a warning."

"We should finish in less than three hours."  Aya checked her radio and her weapon.  "Let's move."

-------------------------------

"Aya?  Aya, are you there?"  It was neither X's nor Zero's voice coming over her headset.  Aya looked around the storeroom she was searching; it was still clear from guards.  She backed into a wall, between some crates, and answered the call.

"Who is this?"  Aya asked wearily.

"It's me, Dr. Melvin.  You did tell me to call whenever I had those test results back for you, even if it's in the middle of the night."

"Oh of course!"  Now that the identity of the caller was known, Aya spoke with more enthusiasm.  "Did you finish the set of tests I ask you to do?"

"Indeed I did."  Dr. Melvin said proudly.  "Although I should ask why you asked me to test for these drugs no one uses anymore…"

"The results?"  Aya looked over the crates again; still no one around.  "This isn't exactly a good time for chit chat."

"Oh yes.  One of the things you asked me to test for came up in the scan!  The plant extract that some Native American tribes used for their rituals, a mild hallucinogen at this dosage.  It's been diluted quite a bit."

"Yes, thank you Dr. Melvin.  I owe you lunch tomorrow, and I'm sorry you had to stay up to do the tests."

"Don't worry about it!  And good night."  Dr. Melvin cut off the connection.

_Oh this is quite the situation, isn't it?  Aya thought.  __So the cookies were poisoned…since X was the one who gave them to her, that would mean Dr. Sky was right about him…and of course X, being a unit commander, would know they don't test for old drugs unless the situation warranted.  He would know exactly what to use to set her up to look like a crazy, unstable threat…_

A crate stacked several feet above her head started to teeter.  By the time she realized what was going to happen, the crate fell down towards her.  Her arm went up in time to protect her from part of the impact, but the heavy crate pinned her to the ground.  

"Shit."  Aya raised her arms when the three Mavericks standing over her pointed their weapons menacingly.  _This was not going to be fun._

"Aya, what's wrong?"  Zero's voice came over Aya's intercom. 

"Looks like you got me, boys."  Aya announced, hoping Zero would get the message and not talk as loudly.  If he yelled loud enough, the Mavericks could hear it, too.  "I'd get out of here if I weren't pinned down here, but, I'm no commander Zero, I'm not as skilled as he is in getting away."

"No way!"  Zero said over the intercom, softer this time.  "No one's leaving unless we're all safe, I'll get X, and we'll come get you."

"One should never trust the advice of a Blue Jay, I suppose."  Aya said aloofly, causing the Mavericks to exchange confused glances.  It was a hidden warning for Zero, vague enough so she wouldn't put Zero in danger if X heard it, but maybe too vague for Zero to understand in the heat of the moment.

"Aya! We're coming to get you!"  It was X's voice this time.  "We have your location."

"Oh look!  You have more friends coming this way!  Hi guys!  Don't you look chipper?"  Aya waved to the crowd of Mavericks gathering.  "Just so you know: if my dad hears about this, I'm in BIG trouble!  He'd ground me for sneaking out this late without permission!  I shouldn't make a big scene though, since I'll be fine!"  She laughed, hoping X and Zero would leave.  "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself!"

"Zero, we should get out before they find out there's more than one of us here!"  X's voice came over the radio.  "Aya's right.  To rescue her now, we'd make a big scene, and Signas would find out!"

"But X!"  Zero started to argue.

"I can take care of myself!" Aya laughed.  "As long as I don't take advice from the Blue Jay anymore, right Red?"  Aya pointed to one of the Mavericks, who wasn't red, but purple.  _Please understand Zero, your life depends on it!  _

"You think the crate hit her head too hard?"  One of the Mavericks asked.  

"Someone shut her up!  Her babbling is driving me nuts."  Another Maverick complained, setting one of his hands on his hips, clearly annoyed at Aya's behavior.  A third Maverick stepped forwards, and sent the butt of his rifle down hard on Aya's head, knocking her out cold.  

------------------------------------

The next morning, Dr. Sky awoke in her cell to find the batch of cookies Zero made for her beside her breakfast tray on the floor, through the opening in the cell door.  She opened up the bag of cookies and smelled it.  

_Mmmm__, this smells good.  She reached in for a cookie but saw small black dots on top of the cookie.  "Poppy seeds?  What the?!  But Zero knows I'm allergic to Poppy seeds!  He wouldn't have…he couldn't have made these.   That could only mean X made them… but why would he lie about making me cookies?"  She tossed the cookies into the garbage bin before sitting on her bed to start her breakfast.  "I didn't refuse the last time he gave me cookies, so why would he need to lie?"  She opened the packet of milk and slipped the straw inside, thinking about what X was up to._

_Cookies… poppy seed…_

"Wait a minute, the last time I had his cookies I hallucinated Doyle in my room."  She bolted upright.  "And most recently I hallucinated after I drank coffee he brought me!  Before I saw Aya in the bathroom, he kissed me with practically a mouth full of hot fudge he made and _tried to offer me!  THAT'S IT!  He must be drugging me somehow!  But with what?"  Breakfast forgotten now, she sat back down on the bed.  "The screening they did in my blood showed nothing…so why is that?"  She closed her eyes and concentrated.  "All this is too much of a coincidence; there must be a connection between the hot fudge, the cookies, and the coffee…"_

"Dr. Sky."  She looked up and saw Zero standing directly in front of her.  "Are you accusing my friend of all those terrible things again?"  

"What?  Zero?"  She looked at the door, then back at the Hunter standing in front of her.  There was no way he could have gotten in.  _This is a hallucination.  She closed her eyes.  "You're not real."_

"I get mad when people use lies to hurt my friends."  Zero's voice teetered between normal and cold.  "I'm going to have to return the favor."

"Not real, not real, not real, not real."  She repeated to herself, keeping her eyes shut.  There was no way a hallucination could touch her, so all she had to do was ignore the voices.  A welcome silence followed her mantra.  Hesitantly, she opened one eye and discovered Zero was gone.  She sighed, then wiped the cold sweat from her face.  Something slick got on her face instead.  She pulled her hand away and saw an oily film covering her fingers.  "The one I held the cookie with…"   She thought back to the other events in question, and recalled the same stuff on her hands when she ate the other cookies.  Floating at the top of the coffee was a slightly different colored film…oil maybe.  She hadn't thought too much at the time… and she had some trouble cleaning the fudge off her face since oil and water are opposite in polarity and don't mix well.

"And when X first came back, he held my hand…I had the same stuff on my hands."  The pieces started to snap together in her mind.  "I didn't think much of it, since I was so upset…but that night I did have my first hallucination; X, standing behind me in my own room…  Whatever this is, it's the stuff that's making me crazy!  I have to tell Aya and Zero!"  She paced the room.  The guard definitely did not like her, so there was no way to sweet talk him into delivering a message.  Her next visiting period is in two days, but by then X could have already made his move!  Zero, Aya, and everyone else is in danger!

Frustration boiled in her veins as she paced the room.  Various options of escape were down, since she couldn't physically overpower any of the Reploid guards… the only human she's met that she might be able to win a physical fight with was the doctor who administered the drug test….

"Doctor…."  She whispered, then looked at the cookies in the garbage pail.  A new plan surfaced.  She grabbed the bag of cookies and, after a deep breath, took a bite out of one of them.  "I have two, maybe two and a half hours before I really kick the bucket…the guards should notice by then… maybe."  Suddenly she regretted the rash plan, but steeled her nerves as she laid down on the floor, feigning unconsciousness, with the cookie in her hand.  _If I do die, the nanites would revive me anyway…but no one said it was fun dying.  _

It was about an hour later that a guard came to retrieve the plates from breakfast.  By then, Dr. Sky was having real difficulties breathing, that part she didn't have to fake.  The guard bent down and shook her.

"Wake up!  What happened?"  The guard asked, pulling her into a sitting position.

"Poppy seed…"  Dr. Sky gasped.  "Allergic…"  She opened her mouth wide, and physically extended her arms, trying to grab air.  "Help…"  Exhaustion from the low amounts of oxygen she was getting, she fell back against the guard's arm.  

The guard's eyes darted around the room, soon landing on the cookie with poppy seed sprinkled on top.  "Shit…" He muttered before picking her up and carrying her out of the door.  "Where's Dr. Sands?"  The guard asked the computer.  "Teleport me directly to the location, override the security protocol."  Dr. Sky felt the warm tingles of teleportation, and when she next opened her eyes, she was lying on top of a bed in the medical wing.  

"I just gave her a shot of adrenaline."  Dr. Sands, who was standing a foot away from her, said to the guard.  "She should recover in half an hour."

"Good, that will give me some time to arrange for security here."  The guard headed for the door.  "I will be back in a couple of minutes.  She won't wake up until then?"

"No, no, she was in quite bad shape from the low oxygen levels.  She couldn't possibly recover that fast."  

As soon as the guard left the room, Dr. Sky hopped out of the bed and knocked Dr. Sands out cold with a swift blow to his head.  "Sorry, doctor, but I guess you didn't know about the nanites…"  

When Zero accidentally poisoned her before with poppy seeds, she hadn't realized it until she was already having difficulties breathing.  The assistant bots administered adrenaline to counter-act the severe allergic effect.  To everyone's surprise, she recovered fully within seconds after the adrenaline was injected; a medical anomalies to most, but a newly discovered effect of the nanites to Dr. Sky and the assistant bots.  

This was the edge she needed to escape.  She ran out the door, and headed straight for Aya's room, hoping she is still not too late.

---------------------------------------

X entered his quarters, dropping a bag full of paperwork at near the entrance, and headed straight for the couch.  It was awkward today, having to answer questions about what happened to Aya and if they were involved.

"Hands up, creep."  Dr. Sky's voice came from behind him.  X complied, raising his hands in the air, then turned around.  "I didn't tell you to turn around!"

"Dr. Sky, what're you doing?"  X's face fell when he saw the light gun in her hand.  

"Don't give me that stupid innocent look."  She spat.  "I am sure this time that you are the one who did this to me, and I have proof this time."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Dr. Sky."  X gulped, looking hurt from her accusations.  "Please, let's talk about this."

"Peyote-K."  Dr. Sky said, making X reel back slightly from surprise.  He quickly recovered, though, and smiled.  "Extract from the peyote cactus crowns, diluted then refined into peyote-k, a mild hallucinogen used for recreational purposes in the late 21st century."  

"Impressive.  How did you figure out what I was giving you?"  X's face transformed in seconds, revealing a nasty, twisted expression.  

"I stopped by Aya's place first.  She wasn't here, but she had some interesting notes, apparently she was planning on running a test on the _other_ batch of cookies you gave me against some of these possible hallucinogens, all of which were excluded from standard drug tests since no one uses them anymore.  She had some primitive equipment lying around, so I used it to test for the major ingredients of peyote-k."

"Very good, but I'm afraid you little detective game is over."  X took a step forwards.  

"Stop!  Or I'll shoot!"  Dr. Sky stood her ground, squeezing the trigger a little tighter.  

"You're not going to shoot me."  X laughed.

"Why shouldn't I shoot you?"  

X shook his head.  "Because you had to ask, that's why."  He took another step forwards.  Searing light ripped a gash through his left shoulder pad.  The force of the blow pushed him backwards.  "Hhhhhh."  He drew in a deep breath, his eyes wide, looking around in confusion.  "You're not me!  Get out…of my head…"  X said as he clutched his head.  "Get out, GET OUT!"  Tears flowed from his eyes.  "GET OUT!"  He screamed, stepping backwards until he hit the wall.  "Get out, get out…"  He repeated, sinking to the ground.

Dr. Sky approached cautiously, keeping her gun pointed at X, who continued to repeat the phrase in a soft voice, cowering like a trapped mouse.  She stood still for a moment, then dropped her gun, kneeled down and reached for X's face.  Gently she stroked his face, wiping the tears away and trying to clam the boy down.  

Her sense of responsibility for X's condition had taken over her doubts about X.  _It's my fault he ended up like this.  She thought.  __I have to fix him, not kill him.  "It'll be okay.  Dr. Cain and I will take care of you.  With his help, I'm sure we can figure out what Dr. Wily's done to you."  She closed her eyes, allowing the weight of her responsibility set in._

X looked hopefully at Dr. Sky, but his face suddenly twisted again, eyes flooding quickly with cruelty.  While she was occupied with comforting X, the hunter had picked up her light pistol and aimed it at her.  X shoved the gun in her rib cage.  Dr. Sky's eyes snapped open in shock, and then lingered on his in disgust.

"You're so easy to trick!  It's almost sad."  He said, shaking his head.  "What is this?  The second time you fell for that one?"

"I only trust you because you're Zero's friend."  She shook her head, lips trembling in anger.  "Were you anyone else I would have shot you before you even noticed I was here."  

"Lies, and you know it.  You're not the type to shoot people in the back.  You might even be more innocent than X."

"What?"  Her head tilted slightly, intrigued by X's words.  

"I haven't told you, have I?"  X got up, then waved the gun upwards, commanding Dr. Sky to stand up slowly.  "X--the X Zero knows--is here right now, but I'm the bitter side to his personality, and I have control right now."

"What?"  She asked again, but then found the answer herself.  "Wily…he did something else to X."

"I've been in control ever since I got back.  It's really lots of fun listening to him whine about not hurting his friends, but I do what I want and he can't stop me!  You were right in the cafeteria, I did come back to hurt you all, but also much, much more…"  He aimed the pistol for her chest and fired it.  The light beam shot clear through her chest, sending her flying to the ground.  

X knelt down beside her, watching as she clutched painfully at the wound, the life draining out of her in red.  "Don't worry, your nanites will have you back in no time!  I can still use you in my plan."  One of her hands reached out angrily, leaving streaks of blood on his armor as she clawed at him.  Blood found its way into her mouth, choking her as she gasped for breath.  In seconds, her labored breaths ceased, and her entire body went limp.  "Then again," he reached down to brush her cheek, "if you don't come back, I'm fine with that as well."  

Previous - Next

Fan Fiction - Top


	25. Games

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 25: Games**

Zero entered the Dr. Sky's quarters, and found the assistant bots sitting solemnly around the monitor, watching the news.  "The Maverick Hunters have advised the police department that 25 year old Dr. Azria Sky has escaped from their custody."  The news anchor read from the notes in front of him.  A photo of Dr. Sky, from the ID badge here at HQ is shown at the corner of the screen.  "She orchestrated an escape from the medical wing of Hunter Headquarters yesterday evening, and is considered armed and dangerous.  She is probably armed with a class-4 light pistol, reported missing from the medical wing.  There are no leads as to how she escaped the heavily guarded Hunter Headquarters.  Should you see Dr. Sky, do not approach her yourself; you should contact area police immediately.  Onto other news…"

Emma got up and turned off the monitor, while the rest of the assistant bots stared at the ground, clearly upset by what is happening.  Emma looked up expectantly at Zero, hoping he would have something reassuring to say to them.  Zero shook his head, unsure if anything he could say would help at this point.  He looked down and found Clara, one of the assistant bots at his side, looking up at him, teary eyed.  

"I'm not sure what happened either."  Zero said softly.  "But they do have a tape of her running down one of the hallways, and she did have a light gun on her..."  

All of the bots were upset.  Just yesterday they found out from Zero that Aya went missing during their covert operation, and today their mom has been branded a fugitive from the law.  Clara began to cry, and Emma started to console her fellow assistant bot, patting her on the head.  

"It'll be okay."  Zero announced.  _Will it?  He asked himself before he even finished his sentence.  "We'll find both of them."  The bots did not look any better.  The red Hunter kneeled down on the ground and opened his arms.  In seconds, all twenty of the assistant bots surrounded him in an embrace.  "It'll be okay."  He repeated.  _

---------------

Zero left the quarters after watching over Emma tucking the rest of the assistant bots to bed.  While he didn't actually do anything, they seem to feel better with him around.  Emma was another comforting presence, kissing each of the assistant bots good-night before seeing Zero off.  

In Aya and Dr. Sky's absence, Emma has taken over the role of surrogate mother, calming the group down when the get too upset, organizing their team activities.  Although the bots don't need any physical nurturing, since they are Reploids, they have been spoiled by Sky's excessive mothering, and psychologically needs the support.  

It is because of this that Zero felt the need to convinced Signas to let the bots stay at Maverick Hunter HQ.  He pointed out that Dr. Sky would very likely try to contact them, so having them around could be useful in locating her.  

_Can't explain it, but I feel better having them around, too.  _

His next stop was Aya's quarters.  _Maybe something there will help us locate her.  As he turned the corner, he saw X stepping out of Aya's room.  The blue hunter headed in the opposite direction, unaware that Zero had spotted him.  Zero waited around the corner until X was gone, then approached the door.  Stealthily, he waved a device over the code pad to the door.  The door unlocked and slid open, allowing Zero admittance.  _

_What was X up to in here?  Zero scanned the room, comparing its contents and their placement to the photographic image of the place in his memory.  Methodically, he checked everything that had been moved, trying to find something significant.  He finished going through the living room without success, and moved onto her bedroom.  Having never actually been inside Aya's bedroom before, he had no idea what was out of place, so he checked every promising looking notebook, and reviewed the data on her computer.  _

"Nothing."  He shook his head.  His search of the quarters complete, his mind turned back to the question of what X was doing here.  After putting things back to their respective  place, Zero left for X's quarters.

-------------------------

"It seems I have utterly underestimated your abilities as a Hunter, Aya."  Doyle slowly circled around the lab table where Aya was strapped down.  Several other technicians were with them in the Maverick base's lab.  "To think, all this time you've managed to make me think you were just an average Hunter."  

"I don't know what you're talking about, Commander Doyle."  Aya said evenly.  _If he thinks I actually have a worthwhile skill, he might decide to infect me with his Zero Virus.  _

"You managed to infiltrate one of the Maverick Compounds by yourself… or did you have help?"  Doyle started at Aya, waiting for a response, but got none.  "That doesn't matter.  I think it's time to bring you into the fold."  Doyle waved his hand in the air, summoning a technician to hook up a data cable to her temple port. 

_Zero Virus?  Damn!_

"It's the good stuff, refined by me."  Doyle lifted his head proudly.  "Soon you'll tell me everything I want to know." 

_The data transfer started!  I've got to do something!  Anything!  Aya concentrated, transferring the necessary power to her attack systems.  __I've got to try the Giga Attack, even though it's going to damage most of my systems… better dead than infected with that nut's virus.  _

"Giga Attack!"  She shouted.  Streams of light burst through the ground, shooting up to the ceiling.  Doyle staggered back, the attack took him by surprise.  The other technicians hesitated for a moment before rushing for the exits.  

"Everyone get out of here!"  Doyle shouted to the technicians as parts of the ceiling caved in from above, sending sharp debris flying across the room.  "Go, go, GO!"  He looked back to the lab table, which was now empty, with frayed straps swinging from the sides.  "Arugh!"  Doyle dove out of the room, right before the remaining ceiling collapsed.

--------------------------

"Zero, you're here."  X stepped back from the doorway and headed for the mess of papers spread out on the dinning table.  "Have a look at some of the tactical schemes I've come up with, I need your input on them."  

As X sifted through the papers again, Zero's eyes trailed after the Blue Hunter.  Zero started to read some of the paperwork in silence, his mind still very much on the question of what X was doing inside Aya's quarters.  _Why didn't he tell me he was there… maybe I need to give him a chance to say something.  _

Over the next hour, they traded strategies and comments.  X carried on a normal conversation, while Zero tensed up with every passing opportunity for X to mention his visit to Aya's quarters.  Finally, the Red Hunter decided to just come out and ask.

"X, did you go to Aya's quarters today?"  

"Hm?"  X turned to Zero, a piece of paper hanging from his lips since both his hands were full with other papers.  Zero reached over the table and pulled the paper from X's lips so he could speak.  "How did you know I went to Aya's quarters?"

"I saw you go inside before I came here."  Zero set the piece of paper back on the table.  "So?  What were you doing there?"

X raised an index finger, indicating Zero should wait a second.  He walked to the coffee table and retrieved a blue notebook.  "I got this."  Zero accepted the book and opened it.  "I asked Aya to look up some other possible locations a couple days ago."

"But these are locations we already ruled out."  Zero turned the pages, reading the locations marked at the top of each one.  "Why would you want to look at this?"

"It is because of her information that we ruled out these locations… but I thought maybe there was an angle I haven't considered…"  X sat back down, leaning an elbow on the table.  "We're running out of time, and have made very little progress."

"We are running out of time…"  Zero nodded.  _This makes sense, how could I doubt X's intentions?  "If there's a way out of this, we'll figure it out!"  Zero started to look through the papers again.  "Let's keep at it."_

X turned back to the plans before him, holding a smug grin inside.  _Zero is sharp, no, X?  The bitter side taunted his other half.  __He almost got me.  If I hadn't thought of this back up plan, he would have me cornered without an explanation.  Anyone else, and I think he might still suspect something, X.  Of course, now he doesn't think that I went inside to destroy evidence…_

--------------------------------

Aya landed in a messy heap outside of the compound.  That was a nasty ten story jump from the lab, and probably ruined the shock absorbers in her legs.  The Giga Attack already wreaked havoc in her systems, and it was only to _distract Doyle.  __In a head to head fight, I don't stand a chance.  _

"Let's hope he's pompous enough not to put a shield against teleport."  She staggered away, accessing her own teleporting satellite, musing a bit on how she won it in a poker game.  It got her out of more than one pinch before.  Like in her other unofficial coming and goings, she couldn't use the Hunter's network to get home, or else she would have to explain what she was doing here in the first place.  The familiar sensation of being teleported crawled over her skin, and she arrived just outside of Cove-01.  

Next she used the Hunter's teleporting network to get directly back to her room.  Time was of the essence; Doyle would surely be hot on her trail.  She made a beeline to the computer, unlocked the Zero Virus files Wily sent her, and started to download them onto a disc.  Next she searched for the notebook containing her notes on poisons.  

_What?  She pushed the books around her book case, searching for a red notebook.  __It's gone!  No, I left it here for sure!  __My locations notebook is gone, too!  She narrowed her eyes, turning away from the bookcase and headed for the safe underneath her bed.  __Let's hope no one found the combination to this.  She punched in the 200 digit alpha-numeric code--random enough to keep safe from Reploids--and heard the door open with a hiss.  From it, she retrieved a small metallic box containing the key code and closed the safe.  _

"Download completed," Blinked on the computer screen.  In one swift motion, she popped the disc out of the computer and put it inside the box.

As she stepped outside of her quarters, she lost her footing, and fell forwards.  Her head suddenly felt very heavy.  _The Virus, it's partially downloaded… and it's corrupting the rest of my systems…  "Computer, site to site teleport, send me to Azria Sky's quarters, pass code 559324."  Immediately she was teleported to her destination, where she was greeted with shocked beeps from the assistant bots sitting in the living room.  _

"There's no time to explain."  She grabbed the nearest assistant bot, which happened to be James, and handed him the box.  "Get this to Dr. Sky as soon as you can.  If you look at section 11.04.80, you can get her released on a technicality."  Her hand started to tremble as she felt the virus overwhelming more and more of her systems.  "As soon as she gets out, give her this…and tell her she can't trust me anymore, but I need her help…"  

Several of the assistant bots came over and helped her stay standing.  Emma approached and quickly explained about what happened to Dr. Sky.  Aya stared at her, disbelief written all over her face.  "You're kidding me… she escaped?  Well… give it to her when you next see her.  Right now, she's the only one I can trust…  Stay away from X, he's dangerous… I don't know about Zero…"  Forming words itself was getting difficult, the room started to spin.  "Don't trust anyone with that box.  Don't give it to X, Zero, or anyone else.  Only give it to Dr. Sky… and no matter how much I ask… don't give it… to me…"  She pushed away from the assistant bots.  "Don't trust anyone… but… Dr. Sky.  Computer, site to site transport, back to my quarters…"  

Her legs gave out as soon as she teleported back to her own quarters, but she only started to shake with fear when she heard Doyle's voice in front of her.

"Running errands, are we?"  Doyle knelt in front of her, studying her frightened reaction with amusement.  "You ordered a site to site transport to Dr. Sky's room… did you have something to tell the little assistant bots?"

"Leave them out of this, Doyle."  She said as bravely as she could manage.  In truth, it's been quite some time since she's been so frightened.  Her systems were not obeying her commands, having been half rewritten by the incomplete virus, and now Doyle was threatening to go after the assistant bots.  

"Tell me what you told them," he picked her up off the ground by her right arm, twisting it at an awkward angle as he did, "and I will think about not paying them a visit tonight."  

"I didn't tell them anything."  She lied, which Doyle picked up immediately.  Violently, he shoved her backwards to the wall.  

"Come on."  He said playfully as he boxed her against the wall.  "Tell me what you told them."  She looked away.  Usually she was very good about keeping up a poker face, but right now, she was busy trying to keep up with the effects of the virus.  "Or did you give them something instead…"  She flinched slightly, giving him the answer he needed to see.  "Ahh.. yes, you gave them the key code.  No matter, I'll get that eventually.  Right now… let's get that virus transfer completed, shall we?"

----------------------------

Brilliant white wings glowed before her.  _An angel?  Dr. Sky thought to herself.  __Am I dead?  The "angel" turned halfway around, studying the blood soaking through his white gloves, his green eyes hazed by indifference.  A trail of red rolled down his cheeks, mimicking tears.  "X?!"  She whispered.  The green eyes turned to hers, pulling her out of her dream-state and back into cold reality.  There were no wings, and he was certainly not an angel… unless angels of death existed.  _

"So you're finally awake."  X removed his gloves and wiped his hands clean on them.  "Those nanites are more resilient than I thought.  Took them long enough to reanimate you, though."  The memory of being hit with the gun returned, and she checked her wound.  Clean bandages were wrapped around her chest, but spots of crimson were already starting to appear.  Her lab coat had been removed, and was now draped over her shoulder.  

_Now is not exactly the time to get modest.  She told herself.  __I can't give him another angle to get at me.  Act calm, act clam.  "What exactly are you up to?"  While waiting for his response, she glanced quickly around the small room.  It looked like a run down hospital… probably one above-ground that had been abandoned.  She was sitting up in the only bed in the room, partially covered by the dingy sheets.  The light above flickered.  __How is this place being powered? Maybe it's one of those places they overlooked shutting down completely… or X hooked things back up.  I'm not sure if I should be impressed… _

"Do you really have to ask?"  X got up and walked to the sink, rinsing the blood out of his gloves.  "I'm going to destroy Zero."  

"Why?"  It was hard to contain her anger, especially with the casual tone the Hunter used.  X splashed some water to his face, and grabbed a nearby towel to wipe his face dry.  

"Because I hate him."  He said matter-of-factly, knowing full well this would annoy the scientist even more.  "He's a fake.  Hero façade, but you can never trust him in the end."  He tossed the towel down and leaned against the rim of the sink.  "Do you have any idea the hells that he has put me through?  Constantly worried about him, hoping a lucky shot doesn't take him out in the next mission, and yet wondering if he'll be the one to shoot me in the back when the chance comes up…"  X turned around, breathing heavily.  "Do you have _any idea at all?"_

"I am speaking to the bitter side, right?"  Dr. Sky tried to sit up further, but only made the wound bleed more freely.  _The nanites can't work as fast as they should… I need food and water…  "You sound like this is of your own free will."_

"It is of my free will."  His eyes narrowed, showing bitterness unnatural to his boyish continence.  "I hate him, and I'm going to destroy him."

"You know Wily is the reason your personality split."  She smiled, gaining more confidence in their argument.  "How do you know he's still not controlling you?"  _If it's a psychological game we're playing, this could turn ugly.  Then again…this is the only weapon I've got at this point.  If I can get him upset…drop his defenses against X…then just maybe… _

X started to say something, but smiled as he realized what she was doing.  "You're playing a mind game with me, aren't you?"  He approached and sat down at the edge of the bed, leaning in closer than Dr. Sky's would like.  "You've lost every single one of those since we've met, _child.  All I have to do is to give you a look and cry and you drop all of your defenses."  He pushed her chin up slightly.  "If you want to get out alive, I suggest you stop feeling so sorry for X and start worrying about your own life."  _

"On the contrary, _X."  She batted his hand away.  "Now that I know the real X is still inside somewhere, I'm more determined than ever to get him back!"  The two stared at each other intensely, then X broke out a fit of laughter.  _

"You are stupid.  The X you hope to get back can't do a thing right now."  The one of the over-head lights flickered again, as if struggling to stay alive, but finally died.  In the dimmed lighting, X's eyes glowed an eerie green.  "I have him locked in a dark corner of our mind.  I did that when he was busy feeling sorry for everyone he killed.  When he tries to escape, I simply refresh his memory with the face of another one of his victims…"   He raised his palm and pressed down at the bandages on Dr. Sky's chest.  She squirmed; the pain was intense even though the pressure was not heavy.  "Perhaps the next face I show him is yours…"  The pressure increased.  She tried to push him away, but the feeling left her arms as the pain increased.  

"Your X is inside, watching right now, but he can't… or should I say _won't help you.  Are you still so confidant you can bring him back?"_

"Shut…up…."  She grunted.  X replied by pressing harder.  Something snapped, and Dr. Sky felt the jagged edge of a bone slicing through her insides.  

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

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Fan Fiction - Top


	26. Call into Darkness

**The Dream Machine**

**Chapter 26: Call into Darkness**

"Sometimes you wonder why you're born into this world.  What is your mission in life?  What will people say about you after you've died?"  X turned to look at the other half of his personality, who stood not far away, looking a bit worse for the wear.  "You, X… once people get over your façade, they will realize that you are nothing but trouble.  Humans looked like they finally settled their differences and could live in peace.  Then you came along and brought a new kind of horror."

"Say whatever you want."  The tired looking X replied.  "But as long as you're busy here talking to me you aren't out there hurting anyone else."

"Oh, _I don't have to do anything else."  The other X grinned.  "__You have done enough already."  White smoke crept from behind the menacing figure.  The other X stumbled backwards, eyes darting as the smoke surrounded him.  He batted at the smoke, trying furiously to get it away.  "Do you see them looking at you, X?  They're asking you to spare them.  They're all dead… well… most of them."_

"Zero!"  The frightened looking X shouted, recognizing something in the veil of smoke.  "Stop it!"  The smoke disappeared, leaving the two blue Reploids standing in the darkness, one shivering and one looking very smug.  "It's not going to work forever…"

"But it'll work long enough for me to get rid of Zero."  

"Shut up!"

The other X's face twisted in anger, but was soon replaced by a relaxed smile.  "I'm going to teach you a lesson, X."

-------------------------

Dr. Sky was in the middle of dismantling the heater in the room when the door snapped open.  As soon as she realized it was X, she tossed aside the small motor she was working on.  "What do you want?"  Fresh blood was still oozing out of her bandages, and the remains of her lab coat was stained with oil from the machinery.  

"Finally trying to escape?"  X quickly glanced around the parts of the heater strewn around her on the hospital room floor.  It looked like she managed to pry the heater cover off with a broken chair leg.  "Giving up on X, are you?  I see you're coming to your senses."

"Yes, I am trying to escape, but no, I am not giving up on X…"  She picked up another part and began to work on it again, but X knocked it away and picked her up by what remained of the lab coat.  

"You're as deluded as they come, aren't you?"  He growled.  "He's not coming back.  Face it."  

Her own anger flared up and she slugged X with her right fist.  A sore fist and a surprised look on X's face were her rewards.  "He will be back.  Dr. Cain and I can do it.  So why don't you shut your face."  

X quickly recovered and narrowed his eyes dangerously.  "Tell me, why do you even believe he's here at all?  I've already crushed him."

"Because Zero still believes he can be saved, so I do, too.  There is nothing you can say to make me change my…"  She managed to cover her mouth before going into a coughing fit.  As quickly as it began, the coughing stopped.  Her body fell limply against X.

_Is she…_

"She's alive, so don't you worry your pretty head."  X let go of the lab coat and allowed her to fall to the ground, looking at her with great disgust.  

_She'll die if you leave her like this!  You have to help her!_

"Shut up, X.  I know what I'm doing."  He took one last look at Dr. Sky before turning to leave.

_Why are you holding her anyway?  If you were going to use her against Zero, you would have done that by now.  Why do you--_

"Because she reminds me of you, that's why!  You both make me sick!  That blind optimism!  All that stupid HOPE.  I want to see what it takes to crush that pathetic--"

_You!... That's _enough_!  _

The fierce outburst from X startled even the bitter personality, who stopped in his tracks, concentrating on what was going on in his head.  "X… what are you doing?"  

----------------------

Dr. Sky lifted her hand to bat away whatever was poking her face and disturbing her from sleep.  The annoyance returned, along with soft bleeping noises.  "Darn it, James, let me get some sleep…"  She opened one eye, confirming that it was indeed James, the assistant bot, standing next to her.  In one second she realized she was at her own lab, in her own bed, and in some clean clothes.  Her other eye opened, to delight and utter confusion, at the realization that she was safely back home.  

"What… James, how did I get here?"  She bolted straight up in bed, and slightly regretted it since she was sore everywhere.  

James turned on the monitor near the bed, showing a brief security footage of X carrying her into the lab.  She leaned back against the pillow and shook her head.

"X…brought me back?..."  Words did not come to her, so she simply stared at the screen.  James presented her with a bowl of soup, and told her why he was here.  "X told you to come back here?  But… why?"

-------------------------

"Alia, are you still working on that?  Well, I brought you some coffee."  Fade set down the hot beverage on a nearby table.  Alia was working intently on her laptop, scrolling through the lines of codes on the view screen.  

"Thanks."  Alia grabbed the cup and took a sip.  "You know, this stuff is just psychological when you're a Reploid.  It might as well be water, but it does taste good."  

Fade leaned forwards and watched as Alia read through a several hundred more lines.  "Looks like you're not going to call it a night until this is done, just don't forget about your other projects.  I've been picking up your slack for the last two days you've been obsessed with this."

"It's just that I can't decode this transmission into the base."  Alia started to explain, unaware that Fade was already leaving the room.  "It aggravates me!  Someone went through a lot to bury this in junk radio transmissions, but there are sure signs that something is… Fade?"  Finally she realized Fade was already gone and felt slightly embarrassed.  "I hate it when that happens…"  Full concentration back on her work again, she noticed something else out of the ordinary in the codes.  "Bing-O."  Several keystrokes later, she opened up the encrypted transmission and saw Aya talking with an old man.  When Aya called the other man "Dr. Wily", Alia gasped.  For a full minute after the end of the video, she shivered in her seat.  

_Could it really be the same Dr. Wily Signas and the others talk about?  Zero's creator?  Alive?  On the screen he certainly looked quite alive, but Aya didn't seem shocked at all by his appearance.  The 13th unit and Wily…they must all be a part of the virus outbreak!  _Taking one last moment to collect herself, Alia soon tried to send the file to Signas and Zero, thinking they should be the first to know about this, but error messages kept popping up.  Fed up with the system, she saved the file to a memory chip and rushed out of the door towards command center 2, where she knew Zero was working.  

Around a blind corner, she ran straight into X, sending both Hunters crashing to the ground.  X rubbed the back of his head emphatically as he got up.  "What's the rush, Alia?"

"I've got to find Zero."  Alia leapt back onto her feet and continued running down the hall.  "Excuse me."  

"Hey!"  X called after Alia, but she quickly disappeared around another corner.  Shaking his head as he laughed, he caught a glimpse of something reflective where Alia fell.  A computer chip with no markings drew X's curiosity.  "Alia must have dropped this."  He carefully picked the chip up and pocketed it.  "Maybe this will explain why she was in such a rush.  Wouldn't it be interesting to see, eh, X?"  He paused, waiting for a response from no one standing around him.  "What?  Are you still tired from that charade you pulled on me back at the hospital?  You know you can't hold me off that long, you being as weak and pathetic as you are."  X continued to walk as he spoke softly, seemingly to himself.  "Now you've just gone and wore yourself out.  I can just go back after her, you know."

_Shut…up…_A hoarse voice rang in his head.  

"Did I hurt your feelings?  Awww…"  The feigned sympathy mercifully ended.  "Well, enough about you.  Let's see what's on this chip."  X punched in the code to his quarters and bee-lined for the console sitting in the back of the living room.  The chip set into the data slot with a click and the file automatically opened.  Both personalities watched intently to what was said on the file.

"Just a second, Wily."  They watched Aya say on the video.  "Tell me, are you still influencing X?" 

Then Wily wore a smile both of them recognized.  X paused the video.  Striking was the similarity between creator and Reploid.  It was the smile Zero bears when he's gone Maverick; exuding confidence, insanity, and knowledge of things beyond the imagination of innocents…

"Wily."  X whispered.  "He's still… I…am just his puppet…No…I won't be his puppet…"

_What… no stop!  You can't!_

-------------------------

"Zero!"  Alia called before the doors even opened completely.  "You've got to see this!"  She reached into her pocket to pull out the chip, but found nothing inside.  "Gah!  Where is it?"

"What is it, Alia?"  Zero set down some folders and walked towards Alia, catching some of Alia's panic.  "Is it another outbreak?"

"I must have dropped it when I ran into X!  Come on!"  Alia was out the door again.  Zero knew that Alia doesn't lose her cool unless it was something approaching catastrophic measures, so he followed her without hesitation.  

Arriving at X's quarters, Alia hit the doorbell once and fidgeted nervously waiting for an answer.  

"X."  Zero called.  "Are you in there?"  As he reached for the door, it slid open.  "Not locked…"  Zero stepped into the quarters and immediately spotted X lying on the floor, near the active computer terminal.  Alia noticed what Zero was looking at and rushed to X's side, shaking him.

"Wake up!  X. What's wrong?"  Alia removed X's helmet to get a better look at his face.  "X!"  

Zero recognized the old man on the right side of the screen.  Rewinding to the beginning, he watched the short conversation between Aya and Dr. Wily.  He noted what was said immediately before the part where the video was paused.

"He won't wake up!  I don't understand!  Just a couple minutes ago he was fine."  Alia noticed the video Zero was watching.  "That's what I was trying to tell you about.  Aya called that man Dr. Wily…  I--I don't understand what happened to X…"

Zero clenched in jaw.  _Wily._

------------------------------

"Alia.  _Alia_!"  A firm voice woke Alia from her sleep.  A pair of blue eyes peered just over the side of her bed.  She blinked several times and realized it was one of the assistant bots Zero had been taking care of since Dr. Sky's disappearance.  Although they're as non-menacing as things come, she was still slightly started by the proximity, and the fact that it was in her quarters. 

"Hi…"  Alia's sat up in bed and tried to fix her hair slightly.  "What are you doing here?"

"It's me, Dr. Sky."  Startled by the unexpected voice, Alia spun around to find the doctor.  "I'm transmitting through James here.  Please, just listen to me."  The hunter turned around to look at James again, arching an eyebrow in suspicion.  "I heard X fell into some kind of stasis coma.  I need to know what happened, but I can't reach Zero…  Of course I can't just waltz in here and find him myself, and the security at the lab won't let my assistant bots through without an escort.   Could you call Zero here and let me talk to him?"

Considering Sky's request for a moment, Alia fell silent.  Sky took that as an indication that she doubted her sincerity.

"I just want to help X."  Sky pleaded, more urgently this time.  "Really, I'm not nuts.  Please believe me.  If Zero doesn't believe me, then he'll know where to come and arrest me.  But please just give Zero a chance to decide."

Alia nodded.  "Okay, I'll call him.  You wait here."  The hunter got out of bed and pulled on a robe over her pajamas before heading to the computer in her room.  "Zero.  It's Alia."

"What is it?"  Zero's voice came back over the speakers.

"Could you meet me in my quarters in ten minutes?"  Knowing the requested sounded a bit odd, she added: "It's about X."

"What about him?"  Zero sounded more enthusiastic now.  "Have you found out something important?"

"Yes, but I think it'll be more clear if you come and see this in person."  Alia looked at James as she said this.  "It'll be faster to explain."

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

Alia got a chance to dress and serve James with some hot coca before Zero arrived.  The Red Hunter became even more mystified when he saw James sitting at the dinning table enjoying his snack.  He looked from James to Alia, questioning what was going on with the expression on his face.  

"Zero, it's me."  Dr. Sky's voice projected from James.  "I…"

"Dr. Sky?!"  Zero rushed up to James.  "Where have you been?!  Emma, James… every one of them has been worried sick about you!"

"I know, and I'm sorry."  She paused, waiting for Zero to calm down before continuing.  "But the matter at hand is really X's condition.  What's happened to him?"

Zero quickly explained about the taped conversation between Aya and Dr. Wily, and how they found X in his quarters.  "We don't know too much about his coma, so there's not too much to explain there.  It's something Wily is up to, though, I'm sure of that."

"Oh…"  Dr. Sky trailed off.

"What do you mean 'oh'?"  Alia demanded.  "What do you know about this?"

"I suspected Wily had something to do with him."  Dr. Sky sighed heavily.  "When I was last with X, he had two personalities.  There's the X you know, and then there's his 'bitter side', courtesy of Dr. Wily abusing my machine.  His bitter half was controlling X's actions, ever since the day he got back to HQ.  He came back to destroy you, Zero, but he thought he was doing that on his own accord…seeing that video…he must have realized that he wasn't so independent after all…your guess is as good as mine to what _exactly happened, but the video must have put him in shock.  X might still be trapped in there!  We have to look for him."_

"When was the last time you were with X?"  Zero asked.  

"Yesterday."

"But what were you doing with X?"  Alia massaged her temple, fitting the pieces of information in her head as they were revealed.  "Did he know where you were all this time?"

"I broke out of the medical lab, but I didn't break out of the base myself."  Dr. Sky's tone of voice told the two hunters she did not want to explain the exact reasons behind this.  "But listen, I think there's a way to find out what's going on in that head of his.  I need you to bring him to my lab."

"Your lab?  Are you going to use that machine on him again?"  Understandably so, Zero was a little anxious about having anyone near the machine that started all of this trouble in the first place.

"It's our best chance.  If we just got a look at what's going on, we'll know how to help him.  You have to get X to my lab!"

"But Dr. Cain can--" Alia began.

"Yes, I know, but he doesn't have the technology that I have… and I want to help him.  Please…"

Zero considered her words for a moment, then nodded in agreement.  "I'll meet you there in two hours."

 "But Zero, how will you get him out of that lab without explaining anything?"  Alia asked.

"I'd like to see them stop me."  Zero left Alia's quarters and rushed to the lab.  To the night staff's alarm, he stormed in without a word and started to unplug X from the machines.  None of the scientists and guards dared to raise any physical barrier to stop Zero as he marched out of the lab with X slung over his shoulder; that is, until he got to the hatch to the garage, where Doyle stood, waiting for him.

"Zero," Doyle said with a hint of glee, "It's good to see you, but what do you think you're doing?"

"Out of my way, Doyle."  Zero thought about how much time it would take to reach for his Z-saber.  "I don't have time for you."

"Have you gone Maverick again?"  Doyle casually drew his weapon.  "If you have, you know what happens next."

Zero was about to happily slice Doyle into to pieces, but he soon realized several hunters stood watching.  It wouldn't help X any if he found out Zero killed a couple hunters on the way to save him.  _Doyle is one thing… but these others…Damn…_

"I asked Zero to move X."  A voice parted the crowd theatrically, revealing a small figure leaning on a cane.  "Really, what's all this commotion about?"  

"Dr. Cain!"  Doyle pursed his lips as the old scientist stepped forwards.  "You do like to keep the rest of us in the dark about what you do, don't you?  What is so interesting that requires your attention this late in the evening?"

"I might ask you the very same things, Doyle."  After giving Doyle one last look, Dr. Cain turned his attention to Zero.  "Really, though, you could have just said something to the nice attendants at the lab, or should I just program some manners into you?"  Several hunters in the audience giggled at Dr. Cain's comments.  "Okay everyone!"  Dr. Cain rapped his cane, commanding everyone's attention.  "Can an old man get on with his work, or does he need everyone's approval first?"  Convinced they've seen the best of the performance, the crowd started to scatter.  Doyle stood for a moment longer, considering Dr. Cain and Zero, before smiling and stepping aside, allowing the two to pass.

Once out of Doyle's earshot, Zero thought it was safe to talk about.  "Dr. Cain…"

"I don't know what you're doing exactly," he winked at Zero, "but a little bot told me you might need my help."  To that, Zero looked down and found James waving at him from behind Dr. Cain.  "I know you have X's best interest in mind, so I won't ask too many questions except if I can help on anything else."

"Actually, doctor… you can."  Zero motioned towards one of the all terrain cycles.  "Are you up for a trip through the surface?"

-----------------

Flanked by several assistant bots, Dr. Sky entered the garage park to greet Zero.  She stood there, thinking how nice it would be talking to her friend again before a loud rumbling interrupted her thoughts.  Pulling in behind Zero's bike was someone else on a cycle.

"Dr. Cain?!"  Dr. Sky almost fell over in shock when the older scientist pulled off his helmet.  The old man laughed heartily after setting the head gear down.  

"Been awhile since I did that!"  Dr. Cain declared loudly, adding some more laughter to his comments.  "They don't call me Motocross Menace for nothing!"  James could be seen behind Dr. Cain, still hanging on for dear life on the motorbike.  

Zero laughed nervously, thinking about how he had to keep turning his head to make sure Dr. Cain didn't wipe out before they got to Dr. Sky's lab.  The man might have been Motocross Menace some time ago, but now he was just a menace.  Zero kept the commentary to himself and lifted X's body from the backside of his bike.   

"I want to hear all about what happened to you once we get X settled."  Zero pointed at Dr. Sky.  "No more of 'it doesn't matter now.'  I want to know what's going on."  

Dr. Sky nodded.  "Let's get X to the lab."  As they walked, she explained the plan to both of them.  "I've mocked up a second headset for you, Zero, so you can step into X's sessions on the machine."  The machine sat silently in the center of the lab as they entered.  

"Step into X's session?"  Zero asked as he set X down in the machine.  "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"It's a long shot, and I don't know if it's actually going to work."  Dr. Sky moved to the console, joined by Dr. Cain, as she set up the session.  "Let's just see how this goes, then at least we'd have some data to play off of."  Dr. Cain nods in approval.  "The extra headset is right over there."  

Zero picked up the headset, and it suddenly felt very heavy in his hands.  He took off his helmet, put the headset on, and sat down.

"Here we go."  Dr. Sky said before all the lights went out.  Zero looked around, alarmed by the sudden darkness.  "Don't worry, Zero, the reason the transition is so rough is because I didn't have time to fix it."  The explanation took the edge off a bit.  

"It's pitch black.  I don't see anything yet."  Zero reported.  

"Why don't you try calling him?"  She suggested.  "This is his dream, he's around here somewhere."

"X?"  Zero called, softly at first.  "X?"  Louder this time.  His voice seemed to be drowned out by the abyss, so he stood, trying to think of something else he could do.  

"When you call into darkness," Zero heard Dr. Cain's voice faintly through Sky's headset, "should you expect a response?"  

"X!"  Zero yelled, ignoring Dr. Cain's philosophical question and started to run in an arbitrary direction.  "Where are you?!  X!"


End file.
